Low-temperature performance of asphalt based on temperature stress tests in dynamic cooling conditions

To investigate the low-temperature crack resistance of asphalt mixtures, the low-temperature properties of asphalt must be accurately evaluated. In this study, asphalt temperature stress variation curves corresponding to the cooling process were plotted based on dynamic thermomechanical analysis (DMA). Four new low-temperature asphalt performance evaluation indexes were derived. The DMA test and simulation calculation results were compared and analyzed. The comparison results show that DMA can directly determine the temperature stress, freeze-break temperature, and freeze-break strength of asphalt during the cooling process. These parameters can be used to assess the low-temperature performance of asphalt. The difference between the simulated and measured freeze-break temperature was less than 10%. However, the simulated temperature stress was significantly lower than the measured value.