Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Enhanced the Performance of Epoxy Asphalt Pavement Binder

Abstract

Modifying epoxy asphalt with nanomaterials is an effective method to enhance the performance of epoxy asphalt binder. The carbon nanotubes were modified and carbon nanotubes/epoxy asphalt (CNTs-EA) was fabricated by mechanical stirring. The performanceof CNTs-EA pavement binder (CNTs-EAPB) was analyzed by immersion marshall’s, freeze-thaw splitting and dynamic stability tests. Experimental results showed that the dynamic stability and freeze-thaw splitting intensity of matrix asphalt binder (MAB) were improved by 118.6% and 85%, respectively. While the dynamic stability of CNTs-EAPB remained 90.8% under soaking water which was more than 77.44% of matrix asphalt and reached 5801 times per mm. This enhancement is mainly attributed to excellent characteristics of CNTs as well as the effective synergistic effect between CNTs and epoxy resin.