ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Built Environ.
Sec. Construction Materials
Revealing the rejuvenation mechanism of SBS modified asphalt through combined Rheology-AFM-MD-DFT analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China
- 2School of Mechanical Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou, China
- 3Gansu Transportation Planning Survey and Design Institute Co Ltd, Lanzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
This study investigates the changes in microstructure and rheological properties of SBS modified asphalt during aging and regeneration processes. The high-temperature rutting resistance and low-temperature crack resistance at different ageing stages were characterized using a dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and a bending beam rheometer (BBR). The effects of aging time and rejuvenator on the surface topography characteristics of asphalt were analyzed using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Molecular dynamics and density functional theory were employed to analyze the interactions between the rejuvenator and SBS modified asphalt. The results show that aging improves the resistance to high temperature deformation but reduces the temperature sensitivity, which can be effectively mitigated by rejuvenator. Aging deteriorates stress relaxation performance and low-temperature crack resistance, while rejuvenators significantly restore low-temperature properties. Aging action and rejuvenator changed the surface microstructure of SBS modified asphalt. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that rejuvenator molecules disperse among SBS and polar molecules, reducing intermolecular forces. The density functional theory analysis indicates that the rejuvenator exhibits strong electrostatic interactions with polar molecules in aged asphalt, particularly showing significant interactions with the -COH and -COOH functional groups in the SB and BS components. These findings provide a theoretical basis for performance evaluation and optimized design of recycled asphalt.
Keywords: SBSmodifiedasphalt, Recycledasphalt, rheologicalproperties, Surfacemicrostructure, molecular dynamics, Density Functional Theory
Received: 30 Jul 2025; Accepted: 12 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Zhao and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jingzhuo Zhao, 1805022398@qq.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.