The Impact of Heterogeneity of Aggregates Coated with Asphalt Mortar on Their FTIR Spectra and Spectral Reproducibility

Abstract

Since FTIR is a sensitive micro-region measurement method, research on the impact of the heterogeneity of both aggregates and asphalt mortar is meaningful and comprehensive for accurate measurement with FTIR spectroscopy. In this paper, the impact of the heterogeneity of aggregates coated with asphalt mortar on their FTIR spectra and spectral reproducibility was creatively studied. The comparative analysis of the respective absorption peaks indicated that the characteristic absorption peaks of the aggregate coated with asphalt mortar were the superposition of the respective absorption peaks of its components. And research on the spectra of the coated aggregates obtained from the same batch of asphalt mixture fabricated at the same time showed that significantly different peak intensities could be affected by minor variations in their components due to the heterogeneity. Furthermore, statistical analysis suggested that the original spectral reproducibility of the coated aggregates was greatly affected by their heterogeneity, with a high coefficient of variation values. In conclusion, the heterogeneity of the coated aggregates could affect peak intensities and spectral reproducibility in micro-regions.