The effect of multiwalled carbon nanotubes on the rheological behaviour of bitumen

An experimental research has been done investigating the effects of the addition of multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) on the rheological behaviour of bitumen and its microstructure. two different types of CNT have been tested, consisted of a product obtained by laboratory synthesis through Catalytic Chemical Vapour Deposition (CCVD) technique and a commercial one, hereinafter are called type 1 and type 2, respectively. Both types of CNTs were completely characterized in terms of morphological, chemical, and structural properties. In addition, the rheological analysis were also conducted on bitumen blends containing CNT providing a complete study understanding the effectiveness of introduced CNT compared to those of commercial ones as for bitumen modification. For this purpose the experimental plan consisted of Trasmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), micro-Raman spectroscopy, and rheological analysis in oscillatory regime.