Laboratory experiment on the effect of nano SiO2 and TiO2 on short and long-term aging behavior of bitumen

• Published in: Construction & building materials 2020-03, Vol.237, p.117640, Article 117640
• Main Authors: Shafabakhsh, Gholam Ali, Sadeghnejad, Mostafa, Ahoor, Behzad, Taheri, Esmaiel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asphalt pavement; Bitumen; LAS; MSCR; Nano SiO2; Nano TiO2
• ISSN: 0950-0618; 1879-0526
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117640

•According to other researches, nanomaterials have had positive and negative effects on bitumen and asphalt mixtures.•To improve the short and long-term aging behavior of bitumen, in this study the effect of Nano SiO2 and Nano TiO2 were compared.•The results show that both of used nanomaterials could make positive changes in bitumen short and long-term behavior.•The results show that the both G*/Sinδ and G*.sinδ values are increased by adding nanomaterials.•The results of BBR show that the use of nanomaterials did not have a significant effect on the bitumen performance at low temperatures.•The LAS test results show that the fatigue life (long-term behavior) of bitumen and consequently asphalt mixtures modified with nanomaterials. In recent years, efforts to extend life and asphalt endurance against climatic conditions and loads caused by traffic have been concerned by for road builders. To this end, researchers have explored different ways, such as changing the aggregation, using different additives and changing the composition of asphalt. According to previous studies and experiments, it seems that the modification of bitumen using polymers alone does not completely improve the bitumen properties and asphalt performance. Therefore, in this study, the effect of silica and titanium nano-oxides on the rheological behavior of bitumen was investigated. In this study, rheological tests such as Direct Shear Rheometer, Bending Beam Rheometer, Multiple Stress Creep Recovery and Linear Amplitude Sweep were performed. The results show that adding different percentages of nanomaterials to bitumen improves bitumen resistance against aging and damages such as rutting and fatigue and improve rheological behavior of bitumen. Of all the percentages selected, the use of 1.2% nano SiO2 and 0.9% Nano TiO2 had the best performance. The results show that addition of 1.2% Nano SiO2 at 40 °C increases rutting resistance of the mixture approximately 100% and also increases the fatigue life of bitumen samples by 50%.