The effect of ionic liquids incorporation on the self-healing behavior of the bitumen

Abstract

In the asphalt pavements, which are prepared by mixing bitumen and aggregates, fatigue cracking and thermal cracking failure occur due to continuous loading and climate conditions. Extending the life of asphalt pavements is very important from an environmental and economic point of view. In this study, reactions are conducted to investigate the effects of six ionic liquids (IL) with different side-chain lengths on the self-healing properties of bitumen. Thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry analysis are performed for ionic liquid characterization, while for bitumen characterization, Saturates, Aromatics, Resins, Asphaltenes (SARA) fractionation of bitumen and Gel Permeation Chromatography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Elemental Analysis of these sub-fractions were performed. In addition, two new test methods have been developed to measure the self-healing capacity of bitumen. The first method shows the effects of rest times when intermittent loading is applied to the sample at high temperatures, while the other method was developed to demonstrate the self-healing ability of bitumen at low temperatures with long rest periods. Stripping tests, asphalt fatigue tests and zeta potential measurements are done to investigate the effects of ionic liquids on bitumen and aggregate interactions. The results indicated that different ionic liquids have different effects on asphalt self-healing mechanism. IL improved the self-healing performance of asphalt 40% at high temperatures, and 100% at low temperature while stripping properties 25% and asphalt fatigue life 20% improved. Therefore, it can be concluded that different bitumen-IL modification recipes could be used for self-healing of asphalt pavements, depending on climatic conditions and traffic density.