A Review on Bitumen Aging and Rejuvenation Chemistry: Processes, Materials and Analyses

During the last decades, extensive research has been carried out on using reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) material in the production of hot recycled mix asphalt. Unfortunately, the aged, stiff, and brittle binder in the RAP typically increases the mixture stiffness and can therefore cause fatigue and low-temperature damages. In the scientific literature, there are many studies concerning the aging and rejuvenation of bitumen, but there is a lack of up-to-date reviews that bring them together, especially those facing the phenomena from a chemical point of view. In this paper, a recap of the chemical aspects of virgin, aged, and rejuvenated bitumen is proposed in order to provide a useful summary of the state of the art, with the aim of both encouraging the use of an increasing quantity of RAP in hot mix asphalt and trying to give indications for further research.