Study and evaluation of aging performance of petroleum asphalts and their constituents during oxygen absorption. II. Chemical group composition and structure changes

The changes of the chemical group compositions and the structures of Chinese Shanjiasi, Shengli, and Renqiu petroleum asphalts and their constituents during oxygen absorption were successfully studied based on the sample oxygen absorption behaviors. The research results show that every asphalt constituent after absorbing oxygen would change into the near heavier one with the exception of saturates, of which the greatest is the conversion rate of resin into asphaltene. The oxygen molecules absorbed by samples are mainly converted into the oxygen atoms in some oxygen-containing function groups, such as O-H, C=O, and S=O groups. The asphalt colloidal stabilities deteriorate clearly and the molecular weight distributions of asphalts and their constituents spread toward higher molecular weights. The molecular weights of all samples increase gradually after oxygen absorption. Resins and asphaltenes are the more unstable constituents in asphalts as shown by their evident changes after oxygen absorption. The changes of Shengli asphalt and its constituents absorbing more easily oxygen are clearly greater than those of Shanjiasi asphalt and its constituents.