Investigation of the graphene oxide and asphalt interaction and its effect on asphalt pavement performance

Previous studies have shown that graphene oxide (GO) could improve the mechanical and rheological properties of polymers. However, the GO-asphalt interaction and the effects of GO on asphalt pavement performance are still not clear. In this paper, the GO modified asphalt binders were prepared by melt blending method, the GO-asphalt interaction was investigated by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The GO effects on the pavement performance of asphalt binders were also studied. In addition, the thermal properties of GO modified asphalt were studied by thermo gravimetric (TG) analysis. The results show that the gas released from GO modified asphalt is the CO2. There is no chemical reaction between the GO and asphalt binders, as much as the CO2 is produced by the decomposition of GO. After being mixed with asphalt binders, the lamella structure of GO is completely stripped, and scattered to a single layer in asphalt binders. The GO has many advantages in improving the pavement performance.