Study on the Regeneration Mechanism of Plasticizers on Asphalt Based on Molecular Simulation
GAO Yingli1,2,*, WANG Shuo1,2, ZHU Juncai1,3, LI Yuelin1,2, TIAN Weiwei1,4, ZHAN Mingtao1,4, HUANG He1
1 School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Changsha University of Science & Technology, Changsha 410114, China 2 Hunan Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for Novel and Carbon Neutral Road Material, Changsha 410114, China 3 Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Transportation Science Development Institute, Hohhot 010051, China 4 Hunan Highway Materials Co., Ltd., Changsha 410024, China
Abstract: To investigate the difference of the recovery effect and regeneration mechanism of different plasticizers on aging asphalt, four plasticizers, dioctyl adipate (DOA), dioctyl phthalate (DOP), acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC) and trioctyl trimellitate (TOTM), were used to regenerate aged asphalt. The effects of different plasticizers on the high and low temperature performance of aged asphalt were evaluated. The chemical structure characteristics of asphalt in the regeneration process were analyzed. Molecular dynamics simulation (MD) was used to calculate the electric dipole moment, cohesive energy density and diffusion coefficient of aged asphalt before and after regeneration, and the regeneration mechanism of different plasticizers was discussed from the molecular level. The test results show that 3% plasticizer content can restore the low-temperature performance of aged asphalt to the level oforiginal asphalt, among which DOA has the most significant effect and ATBC has the weakest effect. It has a negative impact on its high-temperature performance, but it is still better than the original asphalt after regeneration. FTIR test showed that plasticizer and aged asphalt were physically blended. MD simulation shows that the plasticizer has good compatibility with aged asphalt. The addition of plasticizer reduces the cohesive energy density of asphalt and interacts with asphalt molecules to promote the diffusion of four components of asphalt, especially the dispersion of resin and asphaltene. Among them, DOA has a strong diffusion ability. After blending with asphalt, it can achieve regeneration by weakening the interaction between macromolecules and hindering the aggregation of asphaltenes and resins. However, ATBC has relatively poor compatibility with aged asphalt, low molecular mobility, and small electric dipole moment, which is difficult to affect the van der Waals force between asphalt molecules, and the light component is mainly added, resulting in weak regeneration effect. The regeneration effect of TOTM and DOP is between the two. It provides a theoretical basis for the application of plasticizer in asphalt regeneration.
高英力, 王蒴, 朱俊材, 李岳林, 田维伟, 詹明涛, 黄河. 基于分子模拟的增塑剂对沥青再生机理研究[J]. 材料导报, 2025, 39(18): 24060193-9.
GAO Yingli, WANG Shuo, ZHU Juncai, LI Yuelin, TIAN Weiwei, ZHAN Mingtao, HUANG He. Study on the Regeneration Mechanism of Plasticizers on Asphalt Based on Molecular Simulation. Materials Reports, 2025, 39(18): 24060193-9.
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