Experimental Study on Heat-Reflective Epoxy Coatings Containing Nano-TiO2 for Asphalt Pavement Resistance to High-Temperature Diseases and CO/HC Emissions

Abstract The experimental study and an optimized formulation heat-reflective coating has been studied with epoxy resin as the matrix resin and nano titanium dioxide (TiO2) as the functional filler for asphalt pavement to deal with high-temperature diseases and carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions from automobile exhaust. The mass ratio of the epoxy resin: diluent: curing agent: nano-TiO2: and ferric oxide was determined to be 100: 24: 36: 6.4: 0.3. Under the irradiation of the tungsten–iodine lamp, the epoxy coatings can reduce the surface temperature of the asphalt pavement to 57.9°C, whereas the reference surface temperature reaches 71.3°C. The epoxy coatings exhibited excellent wear resistance after 3 h of testing on a rutting machine. Furthermore, the CO/HC decomposition effect on the epoxy coatings has also been investigated, with a maximum decomposition rate of 19.3 % at 50°C and an ultraviolet intensity of 2,770 μW/cm2. The epoxy coatings have been proven to be a good solution for high-temperature disease and excessive CO/HC emissions from asphalt pavements.