ABSTRACT
Maintenance and preservation of asphalt pavements is one of the main issues affecting the budgets of Highway Administrations. Asphalt roads life expectancy could be extended by including encapsulated rejuvenators that automatically break and spread healing agents into the microcracks of aged bitumen. With this purpose, a new type of capsules have been developed and added into asphalt mixture. The objective of this article is to investigate the size, morphology, mechanical stability, thermal stability of the new type of capsules and their softening effect on bitumen. The results show that capsules can survive the high temperatures and stresses of the mixing process. Moreover, it was found that the oil can diffuse into bitumen and change its viscosity if the capsules are broken. These capsules containing healing agents can be a promising improvement towards the development of clever pavements.
