There has long been a need to fractionate asphalt into as well-defined entities as possible. It is known that asphalt consists of a mixture of a very great number of components, too numerous and complex to isolate in the chemically pure state, in appreciable quantities. Consequently, attention has begun to turn towards fractionation of this binder into generic groups, the recombination of which, in varying proportions, should permit experimental evaluation of the influence of a particular fraction on one or another technological property (susceptibility, hardness, etc.) (1). It is also understood that the chemical structures of these generic groups, and their relative proportions, have a fundamental effect on the colloidal structure of asphalt (2, 3), a colloidal structure responsible for rheological behavior (4, 5). Molecular weight distribution has been shown to be a parameter of prime importance (6).
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