Research team
Expertise
Currently, he is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Antwerp, in the SuPar research group, Department of Construction, where he has been investigating the degradation of polymers in the RAP material, using optical measurements and image analyses applied to several multiscale laboratory tests. Antonio Roberto received his Ph.D on April 2021 at the University of Parma. His Ph.D dissertation was focussed on developing a new testing procedure for the evaluation of the creep behaviour of asphalt mastics. The significance of the study is mainly linked to the development of an interpretative model able to recognise and assess the role of each phase of the Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) at intermediate temperatures. During his Ph.D course, he spent six months in Nottingham (UK) at Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre (NTEC) of the University of Nottingham (UoN), where he was introduced to the rheological characterization of both asphalt binders and mastics by DSR analyses and techniques. The research activities were developed under the supervision of Prof. Gordon Airey and Dr. Davide Lo Presti. Due to this experience, Antonio has been labelled as Doctor Europaeus. Antonio also collaborated with Prof. Jan Król and Eng. Adam Liphardt, both member of the Warsaw University of Technology. The research activity jointly developed was focussed on the introduction of an innovative image analysis, called Overlapping Image Analysis (OIA), which can simultaneously highlight both the cracking path and the aggregate position. Antonio has also investigated several alternative materials for sustainable asphalt pavements, such as the reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), waste cooking oil (WCO), and their combinations. Antonio’s master thesis, entitled “The role of fillers on the fundamental properties of asphalt mixtures and mastics”, was developed at the University of Parma, in the Department of Engineering and Architecture during the academic year 2015/2016.