Direct use of RAPM in laboratory study on diffusion between asphalt binders

The present work reports a laboratory study on the asphalt binder diffusion with reference to the hot asphalt recycling. Generally, in diffusion-related studies on asphalt binder either artificially aged or, a chemically extracted binder from reclaimed asphalt pavement material (RAPM) is used. In the present study, an experimental set-up is proposed to directly use RAPM in the diffusion process. The application potentials of the FTIR-ATR and the AFM, for studying the asphalt binder diffusion process and estimation of the coefficient of diffusion, are also investigated. Based on the limited data observed and idealisations considered, the diffusion coefficient for the binder-pair used in the study is obtained in the order of 10(-9) m(2)/s, and its value is observed to increase with the increase of temperature.