Evaluating thermal activated coal gangue as alternative filler in asphalt binder using rheological experiments and molecular dynamic simulation

Abstract

Asphalt mastic, an important raw material in asphalt pavement, is a mixture of asphalt binder and mineral filler. This study utilized coal gangue (CG) as alternative of natural filler in asphalt mastic, which has benefits to recycling solid waste and saving non-renewable resource. In order to achieve performance improvement of CG asphalt mastic (CGAM), thermal activation approach was applied to treat CG particles from 450 ℃ to 900 ℃. Before and after treatment, the surface morphology, mineral components and size distribution were characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and laser particle size analyzer. Meanwhile, the dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and bending beam rheometer (BBR) experiments were conducted to compare the rheological responses of CGAM at high and low temperatures. Further, the interfacial behavior between asphalt binder and CG filler is simulated by molecular dynamic (MD) method, aiming to explore the interaction mechanism at atomistic scale. Results show that the activated CG possesses a smaller particle size and a rougher surface by comparison in virgin one (i.e., unactivated CG). And the calcination process results in the crystal phase transition of CG and the proportion increase of alkali minerals, contributing to the stronger interaction ability and higher adhesion energy with asphalt binder. Owing to the positive changes of CG during calcination process, the corresponding CGAM exhibits superior deformation resistance property under recycling loads at high temperature and flexural creep ability at low temperature, especially when the calcination temperature rises to 750 ℃.