A review of asphalt and asphalt mixture aging

Abstract

This paper presents an extensive review of the pertinent literature regarding asphalt and asphalt mixture aging. Aging affects flexible pavement performance and is produced by intrinsic and extrinsic variables as well as exposure time. Intrinsic variables include asphalt and aggregate properties, a mixture's asphalt content, binder film thickness and air void content; extrinsic variables are associated with production (short-term aging) and exposure to environmental field conditions (long-term aging). Taken together, both variables demonstrate that aging results from three distinct mechanisms: volatilisation, oxidation and steric hardening. Temperature, pressure and photo degradation treatments are used to simulate aging in the laboratory and empirical and semi-empirical models are created to represent and study aging. Aging increases asphalt complex modulus and decreases the phase angle. Mixtures become stiffer while fatigue life becomes reduced. Carbonyl and sulfoxide group formation in asphalt are often studied as such chemical changes show oxidation in aged asphalts. The prevailing models used to predict asphalt aging are discussed, though more comprehensive research into asphalt aging is still needed.