Asphalts have been so extensively used for so long in roads that they have become part of the scenery and perceived as standard materials by general public. Although asphalt production and quality have kept changing in the last decades. Crude oil availability has moved towards heavier, higher sulfur crudes from Canada and lighter crudes from fracking. Meanwhile, demand for lighter petroleum products has forced the refining industry to include conversion units (cokers), which can eliminate asphalt production. The need for “cleaner” petroleum products led to stringent regulations on sulfur content in bunker fuels (IMO 2020) that can impact the asphalt supply chain.<br/>Although specifications differ worldwide, the trend is to performance related specifications for both binders and mixes. Simultaneously, economic crises and environmental awareness have increased the need for durable pavements and recycling. Their implementation has promoted the use of modified binders and mix designs, and favored the combined implementation of Warm Mix Asphalts, Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement recycling.<br/>These changes impact binder composition and performance since asphalt chemical composition and properties are highly crude oil origin and process dependent. Consequently more engineered asphalt binders are being developed to meet specifications, economic and environmental constraints. This presentation gives examples of modifiers, polymers or additives developed and implemented by the industry and shows how they interact with variable asphalt binders, at the structure, rheological and mechanical properties levels as a function of aging, much deeper than assessed by specification systems.<br/>The figure illustrates some of these effects.

Asphalt modifiers: how they deeply change the structure and properties of variable asphalt binders

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.