Journal of Applied Science and Engineering

Published by Tamkang University Press

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Effect of Multi-Component Nanocomposites on the AntiAging Performance of Asphalt

 2026

 Volume 35

Genfu LIANG1, Linghai KONG1, A Gudamu1, Xunlin He1, Chongzheng ZHU2*

1CCCC Third Highway Engineering Co., Ltd. Third Engineering Company, Wuhan 430033, China
2College of Civil Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China

Received: June 23, 2026
Accepted: August 18, 2026
Publication Date: September 25, 2026

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Effect of multi-component nanocomposites on softening point of asphalt before and after long-term aging

 Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

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To improve the aging resistance of asphalt, two multi-component nanocomposites, titanium dioxide/montmorillonite (TM) and cerium oxide/montmorillonite (CM), were prepared using the sol-gel method. Corresponding modified asphalts (TMMA and CMMA) were fabricated via melt blending. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis) characterized the microstructure and optical properties of the nanocomposites. Thermal-oxidative and ultraviolet aging were simulated using the rolling thin film oven test (RTFOT), pressure aging vessel (PAV), and ultraviolet accelerated aging test. Physical, rheological and chemical property changes of the modified asphalts were systematically evaluated. FE-SEM revealed that nano-TiO2 was uniformly loaded on MMT in TM, whereas nano-CeO2 tended to agglomerate in CM. UV-Vis showed TM had markedly higher ultraviolet absorbance than CM. Before aging, the addition of appropriate nanocomposite improved low-temperature ductility and consistency. After PAV and UV aging, both modified asphalts exhibited lower softening point increments, complex modulus aging indexes and carbonyl index increments than base asphalt, with 2% TMMA outperforming 2% CMMA. Results demonstrate that TM and CM effectively retard thermal-oxidative and ultraviolet aging through possible combined effects of MMT’s layered physical barrier and the ultraviolet shielding/antioxidant properties of nano-TiO2 or nano-CeO2.

Keywords: modified asphalt; titanium dioxide/montmorillonite nanocomposite; cerium oxide/montmorillonite nanocomposite; anti-aging performance

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