Investigating the unique entropy-elasticity of polymer modified asphalt

Crafting Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) polymer into the bitumen can notably improve the elastic response of the polymer modified bitumen (PMB), which will significantly enhance the overall performance of bituminous pavement. But the molecular mechanism of the PMB’s unique entropy elasticity has not been fully understood yet. The prominent entropy-elasticity of SBS polymer modified asphalt was investigated in this study. To do so, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) were conducted to investigate the molecular modification mechanism of PMB. Afterwards, polymer molecular model with a polymerization degree over 2000 is constructed and dynamic simulation is conducted to reveal the mesoscopic mechanism of SBS polymer’s entropy elasticity. As for macroscopic evaluation, a series of creep and recovery tests associated with different testing temperatures (10 °C to 100 °C with a 6 °C gap), recovery times (0.01 s, 0.1 s, 1 s, 4 s and 9 s) and SBS dosages (0 %, 2.5 %, 4.2 %, 7.5 %) were carried out to characterize the elasticity of various PMBs. The results show that plain bitumen mainly shows energy-elasticity, which is small, instantaneous and highly temperature-dependent, while PMB mainly shows entropy-elasticity, which is strong, delayed and less temperature-dependent. Under the condition of low temperature and short recovery time, the bitumen molecules freeze and prevent the SBS polymer to demonstrate its entropy-elasticity, hence the energy-elasticity dominates. Higher temperatures and long recovery time render the SBS molecule more time to relax and thus the entropy-elasticity dominates. The predominant influence of entropy-elasticity in PMA leads to a unique increasing recovery rate within a specific high-temperature range. This phenomenon can be utilized as a fingerprint approach for the identification of the entropy-elasticity and polymer modification.