| Asphalt pavement in long-term service suffers damage such as cracking due to oxidative aging. To evaluate the influence of aging on pavement in service, it is necessary to take asphalt core samples from the pavement and then extract asphalt binder from these cores. However, taking many cores damages the pavement and great care is needed when taking a series of measurements for evaluating the aging effect. In this investigation, it was attempted to establish a method for directly evaluating the aging of asphalt mixture by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy with Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) unit. To estimate aging level, the absorbance peak height at about 1700 cm-1 (C=O bond) was focused. It was compared that the ratio obtained from five different sampling methods including common methods using transmission IR mode. The results suggested that the ATR unit can obtain the IR spectrum showing aging level from the surface of asphalt binder coating mixtures even if the contact area is narrow. It was also found that the ratio obtained by each method correlated with the physical characteristics of the asphalt binder such as penetration grade and rheological property |
