CRUDE SOURCE EFFECTS ON THE CHEMICAL, MORPHOLOGICAL, AND VISCOELASTIC PROPERTIES OF STYRENE/BUTADIENE LATEX MODIFIED ASPHALT CEMENTS

The increasing costs and decreasing availability of good-quality asphalt cements across the United States has warranted the use of modifiers. Provided in this paper is a preliminary fundamental analysis of chemical variables (elemental analysis, molecular weight, functional group analysis, and chromatographic fractionation), microstructural effects as measured by scanning electron microscopy, and viscoelastic changes imparted by styrene/butadiene latex addition as measured by dynamic, mechanical spectrometry. AC-10 and AC-20 asphalt cements from five crude sources representing a wide range of chemical and physical properties were chosen for this study.