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Analysis of Virgin Asphalt Brands via the Integrated Application of FTIR and Gel Permeation Chromatography

  • Research Article-Civil Engineering
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Abstract

Counterfeit asphalts have often been deliberately adulterated to reduce costs, which has seriously impeded the development of road and highway construction. In this study, attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) were applied in combination to explore a fast, accurate, low-cost and efficient method to better identify the brand and quality of asphalt. Results revealed that ATR-FTIR spectra of seven brands of asphalt were basically identical, while they differ in benzene ring substituent content and (–CH2–)n (n ≥ 4) content. The fingerprint intervals of virgin asphalt were 1770–1636 cm−1, 1060–985 cm−1 and 920–690 cm−1. The aging degree of the same brand of asphalt was identified by 1770–1636 cm−1 and 1060–985 cm−1, while 920–690 cm−1 range was used to identify the fingerprint interval of the original asphalt brand. GPC analysis revealed that the large molecular size (LMS) content of original Fu Lian and Shuang Long asphalt brands greatly differed which were not identified by FTIR. Owing to the thermal oxidation, the LMS content of the same brand of virgin asphalt increased by 4–6% after short-term aging. The present study based on the integrated operation of GPC–FTIR for the fast and accurate recognition and distinguishing between different brands of asphalts could be of potential practical applications.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51768007) and Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 2017GXNSFB A1981 85).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Petrochemical Resource Processing and Process Intensification Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China

    Fei Meng, Yaseen Muhammad & Jing Li

  2. School of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China

    Shuyi Ma

  3. Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, KP, 25120, Pakistan

    Yaseen Muhammad

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of Umea, 90187, Umeå, Sweden

    Maria Sahibzada

  5. Zhejiang Academy of Transportation Science, Hangzhou, 310000, China

    Fengxia Chi

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  1. Fei Meng
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Correspondence to Jing Li.

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Meng, F., Ma, S., Muhammad, Y. et al. Analysis of Virgin Asphalt Brands via the Integrated Application of FTIR and Gel Permeation Chromatography. Arab J Sci Eng 45, 7999–8009 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-020-04539-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-020-04539-x

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