Study on the anti-aging properties of organic attapulgite (OATT) and polyurethane (PU) composite-modified asphalt

ABSTRACT

Effects of organic attapulgite (OATT) and polyurethane (PU) on the anti-aging properties of OATT/PU composite-modified asphalt were investigated in this study. Firstly, the basic physical properties, high- and low-temperature rheological properties of OATT/PU composite-modified asphalt before and after aging were studied. Meanwhile, several aging indexes were calculated to quantify the anti-aging performance. In addition, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and atomic force microscope (AFM) were used to explore the modification mechanism and micro-morphology. The results indicated that the high-temperature properties of different asphalts were enhanced and the low-temperature properties were adversely affected by aging. As for the OATT/PU composite-modified asphalts, OATT and PU have always shown good synergistic effects in improving the high- and low- temperature properties of modified asphalts during aging. The anti-aging properties of asphalt were improved after the addition of OATT together with PU. OATT plays a significant role in improving the anti-aging performance of modified asphalt. OATT/PU composite-modified asphalt containing 2 wt% OATT showed the best anti-aging performance. The PU content in the composite modified asphalt was recommended to be 5 wt%, so as to obtain satisfactory anti-aging performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Polyurethane
• attapulgite
• modified asphalt
• anti-aging performance

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Shaanxi Provincial Communication Construction Group (No. 17-06K), and the fund of Beijing Key Laboratory of Quality Evaluation Technology for Hygiene and Safety of Plastics, Beijing Technology and Business University (No. QETHSP2020003).

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Beijing Key Laboratory of Quality Evaluation Technology for Hygiene and Safety of Plastics: [Grant Number No. QETHSP2020003]; Shaanxi Provincial Communication Construction Group: [Grant Number No. 17-06K].