Intercalation of p-methycinnamic acid anion into Zn-Al layered double hydroxide to improve UV aging resistance of asphalt

A UV absorber, p-methycinnamic acid (PMCA), was intercalated into Zn-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) by calcination recovery. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that the PMCA anions completely replaced the CO32− anions in the interlayer galleries of Zn-Al-LDH containing PMCA anions (Zn-Al-PMCA-LDH). X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy showed that the interlayer distance increased from 0.78 nm to 1.82 nm after the substitution of PMCA anions for CO32− anions. The similar diffraction angles of the CO32− anion-containing Zn-Al-LDH (Zn-Al-CO32−-LDH) and the Zn-Al-CO32−-LDH/styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) modified asphalt implied that the asphalt molecules do not enter into the LDH interlayer galleries to form separated-phase structures. The different diffraction angles of Zn-Al-PMCA-LDH and Zn-Al-PMCA-LDH/SBS modified asphalt indicated that the asphalt molecules penetrated into the LDH interlayer galleries to form an expanded-phase structure. UV-Vis absorbance analyses showed that Zn-Al-PMCA-LDH was better able to block UV light due to the synergistic effects of PMCA and Zn-Al-LDH. Conventional physical tests and atomic force microscopy images of the SBS modified asphalt, Zn-Al-CO32−-LDH/SBS modified asphalt and Zn-Al-PMCA-LDH/SBS modified asphalt before and after UV aging indicated that Zn-Al-PMCA-LDH improved the UV aging resistance of SBS modified asphalts.