Construction and examination of temperature master curve for asphalt with different aging extents

Abstract

Master curve is widely applied to assess the rheological properties of asphalt. The traditional master curve describes the variation of asphalt rheological properties with frequency. However, compared to frequency, the influence of temperature on asphalt properties is of greater concern. This study attempted to establish a method to transform the traditional master curve into temperature master curve. To this end, asphalt binder with different aging extents were prepared using aging simulation tests, and traditional complex shear modulus master curves of asphalt binder were established based on frequency sweep test. These were then transformed into temperature master curves using the established temperature-frequency equation. Furthermore, the accuracy of the temperature master curve was assessed through temperature sweep tests. The results showed that the temperature-frequency equation obtained based on Williams Landel Ferry equation effectively described the relationship between temperature and reduced frequency. The temperature master curve demonstrated good applicability for asphalt at different aging levels, with the differences between complex shear modulus values calculated by temperature master curve and the experimental values generally within 20%. The temperature master curve accurately characterized the trend of complex shear modulus with temperature. However, this accuracy and applicability were primarily focused on the mid-temperature and high-temperature ranges. The temperature master curve had obvious deficiency in predicting the complex shear modulus at low temperature. The findings provide new methods and insights into the relationship between asphalt rheological properties and temperature.