27 Jan 2026

Procedure for Determining the Thermal Properties of Asphalt Binder

Purpose: This technical note documents a testing procedure developed and used by the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) to measure the thermal properties of asphalt binder. While these properties can be measured using specialized precision equipment that is unavailable in most asphalt testing laboratories, no standardized test methods exist to determine the thermal properties of asphalt binder. The test method described herein employs user-friendly equipment to measure the thermal properties of interest. The repeatability of the test procedure was evaluated on samples of asphalt binder blended with varying amounts of graphite and was found to be acceptable.