Asphaltene obtained by extraction from asphalt was investigated by different analytical techniques in order to characterize its composition, molecular structure and morphology. Then, the asphaltene molecules were successfully functionalized by 3-glycidyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane as confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Finally, asphaltene/epoxy composites at four different loading levels were prepared and their thermo-mechanical properties were examined. The thermal analysis results indicated that asphaltene as a novel reinforcing filler in epoxy resin caused a significant increase in storage modulus of both glassy and rubbery regions, slightly increased the glass transition temperature without negatively affecting thermal stability, and reduced the overall cost of the material.
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Title
Asphaltene: structural characterization, molecular functionalization, and application as a low-cost filler in epoxy composites
Creators
Hongchao Wu (Author)
Michael Kessler (Author)
Publication Details
RSC advances., Vol.5(31), pp.24264-24273
Academic Unit
Mechanical and Materials Engineering, School of
Identifiers
99900502567801842
Copyright
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International ; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/