Effects of the geometric characteristics of graphene nanoplatelets on the physico-rheological properties of asphalt binder

While graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs) have emerged as promising nano-modifiers of asphalt binder in recent years, much is still unknown in terms of the existing correlations between the physical, chemical, and geometric characteristics of this nanofiller and observed asphalt binder properties. In this work, we investigate the important correlation between the geometric characteristics of GnPs and the rheological properties of the GnP-modified asphalt binder at high temperatures. Our results indicate that, in general, incorporating GnPs with large mean particle diameters (> 14 μm) and thicknesses (> 8 nm) enhances the high-temperature performance of the asphalt binder. The results of the multiple stress creep and recovery tests confirm that including GnPs in asphalt binder can decrease its permanent deformation by 33.2