Rheological Properties and Chemical Bonding of Asphalt Modified with Nanosilica

TLDR

The study aims to assess how adding nanosilica to asphalt binders affects their rheological behavior and chemical bonding. Nanosilica was incorporated at 4 % and 6 % by weight, and the modified binders and mixtures were evaluated with Superpave binder and mixture tests—including RV, DSR, BBR, FTIR, SEM, APA, DM, FN—and aging via RTFO and PAV, using dissipated work per load cycle to quantify rheology. Results show that nanosilica slightly lowers viscosity, preserves low‑temperature performance, improves antioxidation, and enhances mixture properties by increasing dynamic modulus and flow number while reducing rutting susceptibility, thereby improving anti‑aging, rutting, and fatigue cracking resistance.

Abstract

The objective of this study is to evaluate the rheological properties and chemical bonding of nano-modified asphalt binders blended with nanosilica. In this study, the nanosilica was added to the control asphalt at contents of 4% and 6% based on the weight of asphalt binders. Superpave binder and mixture tests were utilized in this study to estimate the characteristics of the nano-modifed asphalt binder and mixture. The rotational viscosity (RV), dynamic shear rheometer (DSR), bending beam rhometer (BBR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), asphalt pavement analyzer (APA), dynamic modulus (DM) and flow number (FN) tests were used to analyze rheological properties and chemical bonding changes of the nano-modified asphalt binder and the performance of the nano-modified asphalt mixture. In addition, the performance of nano-modified asphalt after rolling thin-film oven (RTFO) short-term and pressure-aging vessel (PAV) long-term aging was assessed as well. The dissipated work per load cycle for the asphalt binder was used to evaluate the rheological properties of the nano-modified asphalt binder. Based on the binder test results, it was found that the additional nanosilica in the control asphalt binder slightly decreased the viscosity of the control asphalt binder, maintained low dissipated work per load cycle, held a similar low-temperature performance to the control asphalt, and had a positive effect on antioxidation. From the mixture test results, the dynamic modulus and flow number of nano-modified asphalt mixtures improved, and the rutting susceptibility of nano-modified asphalt mixtures was reduced compared to the control asphalt mixture. In general, the findings from this study show that the antiaging property and rutting and fatigue cracking performance of nanosilica modified asphalt binders are enhanced, and the addition of nanosilica in the control asphalt mixture significantly improves the dynamic modulus, flow number, and rutting resistance of asphalt mixtures.