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A.N. Koyun, H. Grothe:
"Self-organisation of Carbonaceous Core-shell Particles in Bitumen";
Poster: 30/80 Meeting, Chemobrionics COST meeting, Granada, Spain; 11.03.2019 - 13.03.2019.

Exploring the bitumen character on a molecular level and investigating its ageing behaviour is vital and necessary, as it shapes its macroscopic characteristics. Therefore, additional clues to predict its long-time performance on the streets could be gained. A comparison between laboratory aged bitumen samples with different ageing states gives clues whether and how the ageing influences the core-shell particles, whichare situated on the bitumen surface.

Since ageing, which is mainly caused by sunlight in the atmosphere (photooxidation of bitumen with reactive oxygen species (ROS)), is taking place on the first nanolayers of bitumen, the dynamics of the surface have been studied, which includes the formation and reformation of the core-shell particles on the surface. The changes with aging were observed with Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), which is capable to picture the topography at a sub-micrometre level and Fluorescence Microscopy, which allows tracking respective molecular changes. It was found, that the size and amount of core-shell particles on the surface is not only determined by the ageing state, but also depends on the cooling rate of the specimen, which has been studied here in more detail.

This study presents the visualization of the bitumen surface at various ageing states, provides a deeper insight on the core-shell particles within the microstructure (asphaltene micelles), and will allow clues concerning the mechanical properties and the aging behaviour of bitumen at a macroscopic level.

https://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/publik_279622.pdf