Influence of Carbon Nanoparticles on the Rheological Characteristics of Short-Term Aged Asphalt Binders

Abstract

Nanotechnology has the potential to create many new materials and devices with wide-ranging purposes. Nano-sized particles have been used in numerous applications to improve the properties of various materials. The utilization of nanotechnology in civil engineering is expected to increase and may become an attractive alternative for asphalt binder modification. The objective of this study was to investigate and evaluate the rheological properties of binders containing various percentages of carbon nanoparticles after a short-term aging process. The experimental design for this study included five binder sources (three grades including PG 64-22, PG 64-16, and PG 52-28), three nano percentages (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5% by weight of the virgin binder), and control binders. The rheological characteristics of the rolling thin film oven (RTFO) binders, including failure temperature, performance grade, creep and creep recovery, viscous flow, and frequency and amplitude sweep, were tested. The results of the experiments indicated that the addition of nanoparticles was helpful in increasing the failure temperature, complex modulus, and elastic modulus values and in improving rutting resistance of the RTFO binder. The phase angle of the binders generally decreased with an increase in nano content and RTFO aging procedure. In addition, statistical analysis indicated that the asphalt binder source plays a key role in determining the rheological properties because of significant evaluations.