Study on preparation and properties of new thermosetting epoxy asphalt

Epoxy asphalt is not widely used because of its high price and miscibility problems of the epoxy resin and asphalt. Herein, a new thermosetting epoxy asphalt (NEA) was prepared with oleylamine as a curing agent. The tensile test showed that NEA has high tensile strength (4.4 MPa) and fracture strain (594%). Fourier transform infrared analysis of the NEA showed that the unsaturated double bond in oleylamine reacted with the active group in asphalt, which effectively introduced asphalt into the network structure formed by curing epoxy resin. The non-polar long chain on oleylamine awarded the NEA with excellent toughness and effective miscibility with non-polar asphalt, which can be confirmed by tensile test and fluorescence microanalysis. The temperature scanning results and the master curve obtained by dynamic shear rheometer test revealed that NEA is an excellent damping material with excellent low-frequency and high-frequency performance. The reaction mechanism of NEA was proposed based on the macro and micro analysis results. This study provided a facile approach for preparing a low-cost NEA modified asphalt by oleylamine curing agent having good miscibility with asphalt and enhanced mechanical properties, and hence can be counted as an alternative contender for applications in pavement, construction, and engineering industries.