ABSTRACT
The interfacial interaction between asphalt and aggregate plays an important role in performance of asphalt mixtures. Molecular dynamics simulation was used to build models of four asphalt components and five typical mineral aggregate crystals. The interface adsorption behavior was studied using these models. The effectiveness of these models was analyzed by comparing the physical properties of the model to the measured values. Results show that the model properties were close to the measured values. The simulated results show that Van der Waals force is dominant in the work of adhesion compared to coulomb electrostatic force. The rank order for the influence of mineral aggregate composition on the work of adhesion is: CaO>MgO>SiO2>Al2O3>Fe2O3. The rank order for the influence of four asphalt components on the work of adhesion is: aromatics>asphaltene>resin>saturate. The work of adhesion between the four asphalt components and mineral aggregates improved with an increase in temperature.
