Physical and rheological properties of asphalt binders containing various antiaging agents

Laboratory methods to simulate the short-term and long-term aging occurring during the service life of asphalt binder in a pavement are standardized, and the influence of ultraviolet (UV) radiations is ignored. The thermal and UV aging of asphalt binders must be considered in the study of the performance of asphalt pavement, especially in geographical regions where high solar radiation intensity occurs. The effects of antioxidants and UV absorbers on the properties of asphalt binders were studied in this study. Experimental results indicated that the improvement of the antiaging resistance of asphalt binder is noticeable when compound antiaging agents containing antioxidants and UV absorbers, at which the physical properties of asphalt is not change remarkably. The results of aging indicated that the asphalt/antioxidants blend has good heat aging resistance, and asphalt/UV absorbers blends have good photostability. However, to prepare asphalt binders with better physical and antiaging resistance, the compound antiaging agents containing antioxidants and UV absorbers must be selected. The results also indicated that the effects of antiaging agents on storage stability of asphalt/antiaging agents blend are little and can be used in pavement after long time storage at high temperature. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.