Curing behavior of epoxy asphalt

The curing process of epoxy asphalt was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Effect of curing temperature on viscosity of epoxy asphalt, and changes of mechanical properties with curing time were investigated. The evolution of concentration of epoxy band was followed as a function of the applied curing process. The experimental results indicate that the curing reaction rate of epoxy asphalt is invariable before 70 min at 120 A degrees C, and it decreases when curing time exceeds 70 min. The viscosity of epoxy asphalt increases slowly with curing time at initial curing stage. But it increases quickly after initial curing stage and the initial curing time decreases as the curing temperature increases. The tensile strength increases slowly at incipient curing stage and increases rapidly when curing time is form 20 min to 70 min. The elongation at break shows a decrease with curing time, but it exceeds 200% after cured.