Assessment of Thermal Properties of Nanoclay-Modified Bitumen

Abstract

In this study, B50/70 penetration grade original bitumen was modified by adding nanoclay at 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% ratios. Subsequently, penetration, softening point, and rotational viscometer tests were performed on non-aged and short-term aged samples. The effect of nanoclay addition to bitumen on the susceptibility of bitumen to high temperature was evaluated with different equations. Since the central focus of the study is to assess the temperature susceptibility and the reaction to thermal changes of the nanoclay added bitumen, a differential scanning calorimetry experiment was performed on the samples, and the temperature susceptibility criteria that are obtained from the binder experiment results such as penetration index, viscosity-temperature susceptibility, and pen-vis number were calculated. In addition, the temperature range in the rotational viscometer experiment was kept broad, and measurements were made at 10 degrees C increments. By fitting these measurements into the Arrhenius equation, activation energies of original and modified bitumen were obtained. The results revealed that adding nanoclay improved the temperature susceptibility, high-temperature performance, and the resistance properties to aging of the binders.