ABSTRACT
Nanotechnology has opened a new world in nanoscale while civil engineering infrastructure is focused on macroscale. Despite the fact that good pavement is constructed using the existing materials, there are significant applications of nanotechnology to improve the pavement performance. Scientists have anticipated that nanotechnology may provide a great potential in the fields of material design, manufacturing, properties, monitoring, and modeling to advance in asphalt pavement technology [1]. One of the most successful polymers is the styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer (SBS), which can retard low-temperature thermal stress cracking and improve resistance to high-temperature rutting [2]. Nanomaterial as a new molecular-level size significantly improves properties at mechanical and related levels. Nanoclay composite in the field of nanotechnology field provides a new insight into fundamental properties of clays [3]. The first polymer-clay nanocomposites (PCN) of nylon 6-clay hybrid was invented in 1985 [4]. A number of bitumen physical properties enhanced successfully when as a polymer was modified with small amount of nanoclay [5]. Styrene-butadiene-styrene triblock copolymer used for modifying physical, mechanical, and rheological properties of bitumen [6]. Asphalt concrete is a mixture of bitumen and aggregates and engineers attempt to improve performance of asphalt pavements. One of the most conventional ways to improve pavement performance is bitumen reinforcement with different additives, but the most popular bitumen modification technique is polymer modification [7-9]. In this study, bitumen was aged using TFOT and modified by different percents of nanoclay composite. Marshal samples were made by nanocomposite modified aged bitumen and put under static loading. The results showed improvement in creep parameters and according to images of scanning electron microscope, nanoclay composite was uniformly distributed in the bitumen.
