Phase Morphology of Polymer Modified Road Asphalt

Polymer modified asphalt is a binary system of two immiscible phases (asphalt-rich phase and SBS-rich phase), which might show a continuous asphalt phase with dispersed polymer particles, two interlocked continuous phases, and a continuous polymer phase with dispersed asphalt globules. Moreover, these microstructures are very varied. In this paper, the types of phase morphology of polymer modified asphalt are investigated and studied in detail by fluorescence microscopy, and the influence of polymer content and base asphalt compositions on phase morphology is discussed. It is concluded that phase morphology is of value not only in the study of the microstructures of modified asphalt binders but also in the choice of optimal polymer content and base asphalt to obtain polymer modified road asphalt with good properties.