Microcosmic mechanism of PE modified asphalt based on molecular simulation

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes adding waste plastics to asphalt. Using molecular dynamics to study the properties of modified asphalt after adding polyethylene (PE), and clarify its application direction according to its microscopic characteristics, in order to achieve the goals of resource recycling, environmental protection, improvement of asphalt performance and cost reduction. First, construct the molecular model of asphalt according to the four components of the asphalt molecule; construct the molecular model of PE according to the molecular formula of polyethylene; Secondly, by calculating the solubility parameters and interaction energy of asphalt and PE, the compatibility is judged. Finally, the results of the micromechanical simulations of the original and modified asphalt were compared with the test results of the rheological properties of the asphalt. The research results show that the compatibility between PE and asphalt is the best at 175°C, indicating that this temperature is the best modification temperature of asphalt; the addition of PE increases the order of asphalt molecules, and increases the mechanical modulus of asphalt and high temperature rheological properties. The combination of micro simulation and macro test makes the content of this paper more complete and provides theoretical value for the application of waste PE modified asphalt pavement.

KEYWORDS:

• Polyethylene
• modified asphalt
• molecular dynamics
• performance
• evaluation

Acknowledgments

The author thanks the Key Laboratory of Northeast Forestry University for their help with this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data required for this article can be obtained from the corresponding author.