Engineering

Oxide

Metallurgy

Materials science

Ductility (Earth science)

Nano-

Rotational viscosity

Creep

Zinc

Operations research

Asphalt

Softening point

Composite material

Penetration (warfare)

Rheology

Viscosity

Penetration test

Construction and Building Materials

Asphalt aging holds responsibility for fatigue damage of asphalt pavement. Incorporation of nano-zinc oxide (nano-ZnO) as modifier into asphalt can effectively improve anti-aging property of asphalt. In this work, different dosage of nano-ZnO was added to original asphalt to prepare modified asphalt, and physical properties of nano-ZnO modified asphalt, including storage stability, penetration (25 °C), softening point and ductility (5 °C) were tested. Effect of nano-ZnO on the rheological properties of asphalt was studied by testing rheological properties of modified asphalt before and after aging. In addition, fatigue properties of asphalt with different nano-ZnO dosage were analyzed by linear amplitude sweep (LAS) test. Furthermore, anti-aging characteristics of nano-ZnO modified asphalt were characterized by thin film oven test (TFOT) and ultraviolet aging (UV-aging) test and mechanism was interpreted by UV–visible-infrared absorption test. The results show that nano-ZnO can influence penetration (25 °C), softening point, ductility (5 °C) and storage stability of asphalt. Nano-ZnO can improve complex shear modulus (G*), phase angle (δ) and fatigue performance. Addition of nano-ZnO can evidently improve anti-UV aging ability of asphalt and make asphalt show certain viscosity recovery during aging process. In addition, nano-ZnO has strong absorption characteristics to ultraviolet light with more than 95% absorption rate, which reflects its superiority as anti-UV aging modifier for asphalt. UV absorption of nano-ZnO modified asphalt is enhanced several times than that of original asphalt. Asphalt modified with reasonable nano-ZnO dosage possesses significant and evident anti-aging characteristics.

Physical properties and anti-aging characteristics of asphalt modified with nano-zinc oxide powder