Experimental Research on Thermo-oxidative Aging of Asphalt for Simulation in the Field Hot Climate

At present, rolling thin film oven test (RTFOT) and pressure aging vessel (PAV) are used to study aging behavior of asphalt, whose temperature and pressure are different from field conditions of asphalt pavement. In order to analyze influence of true condition of pavement on asphalt aging, temperature characteristic of pavement was analyzed and reasonable aging temperature was chosen. Using oven aging test at 60℃ designed, authors studied thermo-oxidative aging behavior and mechanism, by comparing properties of different aged and original asphalt, such as softening point, penetration, ductility, viscosity, stiffness, constituent analysis, colloid structure and infrared spectroscopy (IR). The results show that retarded oxidation reaction is the main aging form in the field climate, and polar big molecules with oxy-gen are formed. As a result, asphalt performances especially low temperature performance deteriorates gradually, which is an important reason of asphalt pavement damage.