Internal structure of bitumen/polymer/wax ternary mixtures for warm mix asphalts

Polymer modified asphalts (PMA) and warm mix asphalts (WMA) are technologies widely adopted in the paving industry. The first one is well established, while the second one is relatively new, but rapidly growing since it guarantees economic and environmental advantages. Until now PMA and WMA have been used disjointedly, but it would be useful to combine them to keep the advantages of both. One of the adopted solutions to obtain a warm effect is the addition of waxes to the asphaltic binder. Therefore, a “warm mix polymer modified asphalt” may be potentially obtained with a ternary asphalt/polymer/wax system. However, the final warm effect and performances of the binder will depend on the interactions between the three components. A preliminary investigation was done by mixing asphalt, styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer and a wax chosen among the following three categories: paraffinic, partially oxidized and maleic anhydride functionalized. The morphological and calorimetric analyses and solubility tests allowed identifying different behaviors depending on the wax type, which may preferentially interact either with the asphalt or with the polymer, thus influencing the whole binder structure. With regard to the ternary mixes, it was found that: (i) the paraffinic wax preferentially resides in the polymer-rich phase, and slightly enhances the asphalt-polymer compatibility; (ii) the partially oxidized wax prefers the asphaltene-rich phase and reduces the compatibility; (iii) it is not clear where the functionalized wax is located, but it has a considerable compatibilizing effect and strongly alters the colloidal equilibrium of the asphalt-polymer blend. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013