Spectroscopic study of bituminous oxidative stress

Bitumen, as each organic substance, is a product which alters over time. Indeed, roads deteriorate under the effect of several phenomena. A number of studies have been undertaken to increase the quality of road's coating, mostly by adding polymer to bitumen. This work was based on the study, by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), FTIR and Synchronous UV fluorescence, of different base and modified bitumens after different treatments used to simulate the ageing (gamma irradiation, thermal treatment). Our purpose was to compare and correlate the results obtained by different techniques to improve the knowledge of bitumen's reactivity and evolution submitted to ageing phenomena.