Adhesion Mechanism and Quantitative Evaluation of Bio-Based and Petroleum-Based Oil-Modified Asphalt

Highlights: What are the main findings? Bio-based oils superiorly enhance asphalt adhesion to acidic granite. Carbonyl and aromatic groups in bio-oils promote interfacial bonding. What are the implications of the main findings? Digital image processing enables objective quantitative adhesion analysis. Bio-oils optimize low-temperature cracking resistance of asphalt mixtures. The utilization of waste and renewable oils as asphalt modifiers is a crucial strategy for achieving sustainable development in pavement engineering. However, the different physicochemical effects exerted by oil sources (bio-based versus petroleum-based) on the asphalt–aggregate interface remain insufficiently understood. This study aims to elucidate the influence mechanism of two bio-based oils and two petroleum-based oils on asphalt adhesion and the pavement performance of mixtures. A quantitative evaluation method combining the boiling test with digital image processing (DIP) technology was developed to assess the anti-stripping performance of modified asphalt on different lithological aggregates (acidic granite and alkaline limestone). Additionally, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was employed to reveal the chemical evolution of the modified asphalt. The results indicated that, although all oil-based modifiers demonstrated excellent compatibility and storage stability with the base asphalt (segregation ratio < 5%), their adhesion properties were significantly influenced by aggregate lithology. The key finding was that, compared to petroleum-based oils, bio-based oils exhibited superior adhesion performance on acidic granite surfaces, markedly mitigating moisture-induced stripping. FTIR analysis confirmed that this enhancement was attributable to the aromatic and carbonyl functional groups introduced by bio-based oils, which effectively promoted the interfacial bonding. Furthermore, bio-oil-modified mixtures exhibited optimal low-temperature cracking resistance without compromising high-temperature stability. These findings elucidate the mechanism by which bio-oil enhances the water-damage resistance of acidic aggregate systems, providing a theoretical basis for the optimized selection of sustainable asphalt modifiers.