ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mater.
Sec. Structural Materials
Study on the compatibility evolution of asphalt and kaolin before and after photooxidation aging
Provisionally accepted
- Guangxi Eco-engineering Vocational and Technical College, Liuzhou, China
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In order to investigate the effect of photo-oxidative aging on the compatibility of asphalt and kaolin, this study prepared aged asphalt via simulated photo-oxidative aging tests and conducted four-component analysis on both base and aged asphalt. From a nanoscale molecular perspective, molecular dynamics simulations were employed to examine the blending system of kaolin and asphalt. Molecular models of base asphalt were constructed based on its asphaltene, saturate, and aromatic fractions, while kaolin was modeled using its primary components, Al₂O₃ and SiO₂. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed at 160°C to evaluate the electrostatic, van der Waals, and non-electrostatic interaction energies. The results indicate that photo-oxidative aging does not significantly alter the mean square displacement, temperature, or radial distribution function of asphalt molecules. However, aged asphalt exhibits increased energy due to the elevated proportion of large molecular components. Moreover, the difference in solubility parameters between aged asphalt and kaolin is greater than that between base asphalt and kaolin. These findings reveal that photo-oxidative aging weakens the intermolecular interactions and reduces the compatibility between asphalt and kaolin. The study provides new molecular-level insights into the aging mechanism and compatibility evolution in asphalt–kaolin systems.
Keywords: Kaolin modified asphalt, aged asphalt, Compatibility, Molecular dynamics theory, Photo-oxidative
Received: 16 Sep 2025; Accepted: 12 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hu. 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: Chao Hu, 1819791153@qq.com
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