Use of Molecular Dynamics to Investigate Self-Healing Mechanisms in Asphalt Binders

作者:Bhasin Amit*; Bommavaram Rammohan; Greenfield Michael L; Little Dallas N
来源:Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 2011, 23(4): 485-492.
DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0000200

摘要

The fatigue-cracking life of an asphalt mixture measured in the laboratory is generally a small fraction of the fatigue-cracking life observed in the field. One of the reasons for this large difference is the self-healing property of asphalt binders. Self-healing is a process that reverses the growth of fatigue cracks during rest periods between load applications. A thorough understanding of the healing mechanism is required to accurately model and predict the influence of healing on the fatigue-cracking life of asphalt mixtures. Previous studies have used experimental evidence to demonstrate a correlation between chemistry of asphalt functional groups, such as chain length and branching, and healing measured in asphalt binders. One of the mechanisms of healing is the self-diffusion of molecules across the crack interface. This paper demonstrates the use of molecular simulation techniques to investigate the correlation of chain length and chain branching to self-diffusivity of binder molecules. The findings reported in this paper are consistent with observations reported in previous studies and expand on the understanding of the relationship between molecular architecture, self-diffusivity, and self-healing properties of asphalt binders. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0000200.

  • 出版日期2011-4