New direct observations of asphalts and asphalt binders by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy |
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Authors: | L. LOEBER O. SUTTON J. MOREL J.-M. VALLETON G. MULLER |
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Affiliation: | Mobil Oil France, BP 37, 76330 Notre Dame de Gravenchon, France; University of Le Havre, 76600 Le Havre, France; URA 500 - CNRS and University of Rouen, 76821 Mt. St. Aignan Cedex, France |
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Abstract: | Observations made using AFM and SEM have been combined in order to study the structure of asphalts. Fluorescence microscopy was used to aid in understanding the structural changes occurring when polymer is added to the asphalts. With the atomic force microscope we are able to study the structure of the asphalts without any pre-preparation. Despite very low resolution, our study reveal ed a network of asphaltene molecules with regard to asphalt gel. The same result is obtained by SEM observation but with a much better resolution. SEM observation, however, needs an adequate preparation method. In the presence of polymer we observed a rearrangement of the initial asphaltene association which leads to the assumption that polymer can aggregate the asphaltene phase. |
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Keywords: | Asphalt binder asphalt asphaltene structure atomic force microscope bitumen scanning electron microscope |
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