Effect of multi-scale nanocomposites on performance of asphalt binder and mixture

Abstract

Multi-scale nanocomposites composed of inorganic nanoparticle (nano-silica, nano-titanium or nano-zinc oxide) combined with organic expanded vermiculite can combine the advantages of different dimensional nanomaterials. However, few researchers studied the effect of multi-scale nanocomposites on performance of asphalt mixtures. Therefore, the effect of multi-scale nanocomposites on asphalt binder and its mixture was evaluated simultaneously by laboratory tests to find the multi-scale nanocomposites modified asphalt mixture with the best road performance. The results show multi-scale nanocomposites can improve the low-temperature and anti-aging performance of both asphalt binder and its mixture distinctly, whereas the effect on the high-temperature performance and resistance to water damage for different modifiers was quite different. Besides, the indirect tensile fatigue test verifies the fatigue life of mixture can be extended by introducing multi-scale nanocomposites. But the conclusion of fatigue cracking parameter shows inconsistent with that of indirect tensile fatigue test. Moreover, the optimal combination is 1% organic expanded vermiculite + 3% nano-zinc oxide.