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• Epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) is introduced to prepare ESO modified cold-mixed epoxy asphalt (CEA-ESO) • Increasing ESO content will increase the compatibility of epoxy resin and asphalt. • Increasing ESO content will increase the elongation at break of cured CEA-ESO. Cold-mixed epoxy asphalt (CEA) has been used for paving steel bridges and high-grade roads because of its properties superiority and environmental protection. In order to obtain CEA with excellent performance, it is a significant mean to improve the compatibility between asphalt and epoxy resin (ER) by introducing epoxidized soybean oil (ESO). The viscosity and glass transition temperature (T g) decrease, and the asphalt dispersed more uniformly in the ER with increasing ESO concentration. Based on the dynamic mechanical analysis, the CEA-ESO30 shows only one T g and excellent compatibility between asphalt and ER. The elongation at break and storage modulus of CEA-ESO was higher than CEA, indicating that the flexible ESO molecular chain in the curing networks might improve the stiffness of CEA-ESO. The FTIR spectra exhibited that the ESO reacted with the curing agent to form 3D networks with ER, which may result in good compatibility between asphalt and ER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biobased cold-mix epoxy asphalt (BCEA) was prepared by adopting biodiesel and epoxy soybean oil as asphalt solvent and compatibilizer. The strength and toughness attenuation laws under freeze–thaw (FT) cycles of BCEA were studied through tensile tests, flexural tests, and dynamic mechanical analysis. The attenuation mechanism was explored through scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and water absorption tests. The results showed that the first FT cycle significantly weakened the strength and toughness of BCEA. After the third cycle, the attenuation rate of storage modulus, loss tangent, and glass transition temperature of BCEA declined. The attenuation mechanism of BCEA is as follows: (1) post-curing and destruction of the cross-linking network, (2) agglomeration and aging of asphalt, and (3) diffusion and reaction of water. This research provided a theoretical basis for the application of BCEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]