Influence mechanism of original components on mechanical properties and transformation behaviors of natural bitumen

Natural bitumen is an important component with high-purity organic matter in fossil energy and energy engineering scenarios. However, the production and application of natural bitumen could be severely hindered by the lacking of understanding the effects and influencing mechanisms of original components on physical properties of natural bitumen. Therefore, the main purpose of this work is to illustrate the influence mechanisms of original components (saturated hydrocarbon, aromatic hydrocarbon, resin and asphaltene) on mechanical properties of natural bitumen by the combination of nanoindentation technology and molecular structure analysis. The effects of each original component on the mechanical properties were carried out for Wuerhe natural bitumen which collected from Junggar Basin of China, and the influencing mechanisms were further revealed based on nanoindentation and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results. The occurrence units of each component in the chemical structural stacking of bitumen were established for the first time. It was found that hydrocarbons and resins can disintegrate the chemical structural stacking, thereby reducing the mechanical strength of natural bitumen. According to our micro-scale analysis results, the plastic and elastic deformation of natural bitumen were controlled by the structural units of amorphous carbon and aromatic carbon microcrystalline, as determined by saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons, respectively. And the schematic diagram of occurrence of each component in solid bitumen for the first time. Hence, the mechanical strength of natural bitumen can be effectively reduced by retaining or increasing the content of alkanes during exploitation, transportation and processing of natural bitumen. This research provided a new understanding for the stacking structure and physical property change mechanism of natural bitumen.