What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to improve the compatibility of crumb rubber modified asphalt for better waste tire recycling.

May 15, 2026

Coupling Microwave Treatment and NaClO Oxidation for Excellent Compatibility of Crumb Rubber and Asphalt: Methods and Mechanism

HZHui ZhangInstitute of Coal Chemistry YZYingshuang ZhangXuzhou Construction Machinery Group (China)DCDezhi CaoShenzhen Children's Hospital

Key Points

The aim is to improve the compatibility of crumb rubber modified asphalt for better waste tire recycling.
Prepared microwave-assisted NaClO-oxidized crumb rubber using single-factor and orthogonal experiments.
Employed various techniques including SEM, FT-IR, EDS, TGA, and DFT calculations to analyze the effects of the treatment.
Conducted rheological tests (DSR and BBR) to assess the performance of the modified asphalt.
MOCR-modified asphalt exhibited optimal storage stability as confirmed by softening point difference and segregation index.
Dynamic shear rheometer and bending beam rheometer tests showed superior high- and low-temperature rheological performance in MOCRMA.
Functional group analysis revealed the formation of sulfone and sulfoxide groups enhancing compatibility.

Abstract

Crumb rubber (CR) modified asphalt facilitated waste tire recycling, but poor CR-asphalt compatibility limited high CR dosage. Accordingly, microwave-assisted NaClO-oxidized CR (MOCR) was prepared, with optimal conditions obtained by single-factor and orthogonal experiments. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), contact angle (CA) measurement, X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were employed to investigate the effect of coupling oxidation treatment on CR. It was found that after the combined oxidation, disulfide bonds (-S-S-) and polysulfide bonds (-Sn-) were cleaved, producing sulfone (-SO2-) and sulfoxide (-SO-) functional groups. Furthermore, DFT calculations verified that the oxidized CR possessed excellent compatibility with base asphalt (BA). Softening point difference (SPD), segregation index (SI), and fluorescence microscopy (FM) results confirmed that MOCR-modified asphalt (MOCRMA) exhibited optimal storage stability. Dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and bending beam rheometer (BBR) tests demonstrated that MOCRMA exhibited superior high- and low-temperature rheological performance.

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