Abstract The effect of short-term oxidation, evaluated by using a Rolling Thin Film Oven Test, and the effect of weathering aging on the oxidation process of hydrated lime modified asphalts were studied. Hydrated lime (HL) has been known as an additive for asphalt mixtures and is now considered as a binder additive that increases asphalt mixture durability. HL was added to the binder in contents of 5, 10, 20, and 30 wt.%. The HL modified binders were aged by using the Rolling Thin Film Oven Test and weathering tests with xenon radiation. A storage stability test by measuring the softening points of HL modified binders was performed. The Thin Layer Chromatography with Flame Ionization Detection (TLC-FID) analysis was used to determine the fractions of resins, aromatics, asphaltenes and saturates of the binders. The aging of HL modified binders was evaluated by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. According to the stability test, a hydrated lime concentration value close to 20 wt.% is the critical point at which there is a risk of segregation of the asphalt binder and hydrated lime during transportation and storage. For the sample weathering aged for 250 hours, a decrease of saturated and aromatic fractions, furthermore an increase in asphaltenes were observed for all samples. Results have shown that additions of 10 wt.% of hydrated lime in asphalt binders resulted in a higher photodegradation resistance among the other asphalt mixtures considering the carbonyl index, stability test and colloidal instability test results.

The objective of this work was to characterize the asphaltic cement penetration grade 30/45 (CAP 30/45) based on the morphology of nanostructures called "bee" structure observed and its modification when the binder was diluted in heptanes or toluene. The morphology of CAP30/45, toluene and heptane films was studied by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) tapping mode and showed typical "bee" structure in asphaltic cement films, but this structure is not visible on the other films. While, toluene completely dissolved the bees, films attacked with heptane still presented some structures left.

Currently, the most used polymer for asphalt binder modification is the thermoplastic elastomer styrene butadiene styrene (SBS) and aromatic oil is commonly added to the mixtures to improve their compatibly. This paper proposes the use of oil shale from sedimentary rock as a compatibilizer agent for polymer-modified asphalt binder (PMB). PMBs were produced by mixing a bitumen with a linear SBS copolymer (3.5% (w.w-1)) using two oil shale contents (2 and 4%) and petroleum aromatic oil to evaluate comparatively the effect of the compatibilizer agent on the SBS PMB properties. The rheological characteristics of the SBS PMBs were analyzed in a dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and the morphology accessed by fluorescence optical microscopy. The viscoelastic behavior of the samples corroborated the results for the classical properties and varied according to the sample morphology and composition. The results indicate that the aromatic and shale oils have similar effects on the microstructure, storage stability and viscoelastic behavior of the PMBs. Thus, shale oil could be successfully used as a compatibilizer agent without loss of properties or could even replace the aromatic oil. Following the Superpave methodology it was observed that the linear- and radial-SBS PMBs and linear-SBS PMB with 2% of shale oil can be used up to 70 °C, and the linear-SBS PMBs with 4% of shale oil or 2% of aromatic oil can be used only up to 64 °C.