Atomic force microscopy to investigate asphalt binders: a state-of-the-art review

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a non-destructive imaging tool, which is capable of qualitative and quantitative surface analysis with sub-nanometer resolution. Simultaneously with the topology at the micro-scale, AFM is capable of acquiring micro-mechanical information such as relative stiffness/Young's modulus, stickiness/adhesion, hardness, energy loss and sample deformation quantitatively. This paper presents an extensive review on the …