{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T13:48:22Z","timestamp":1785937702726,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785888000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Safety Capability Development Program of CAAC","award":["ADSA0346"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ADSA0346"]}]},{"name":"Key Research and Transformation Project of the Department of Science and Technology of Tibet Au-tonomous Region","award":["XZ202601ZY0086"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["XZ202601ZY0086"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Asphalt pavements at high-altitude airports endure prolonged extreme low temperatures and large diurnal swings, imposing stringent demands on crack sealants, whose multi-scale adhesion failure mechanism remains unclear. Three SBS and crumb-rubber-composite-modified sealants, designated A, B and C, were characterized through surface free energy tests, pull-off and shear tests, fluorescence microscopy, FTIR and molecular dynamics simulations. Cross-scale correlation analysis and CRITIC-TOPSIS were applied to link and rank the sealants across scales. Work of cohesion, work of adhesion, pull-off strength and shear strength all rose monotonically with modifier content, and sealant C exhibited a 38.5% higher work of cohesion and a 52.4% lower CV\u03c6 than sealant A. Molecular dynamics simulations showed that electrostatic forces drove sealant\u2013aggregate adhesion while van der Waals forces governed sealant\u2013asphalt adhesion, with a simulation\u2013experiment deviation of only 2.88\u20135.74%. A level-by-level transmission linked phase-morphology uniformity, intermolecular interaction, interfacial energy and macroscopic mechanical performance. Sealant C achieved a CRITIC-TOPSIS index of 1.000, far above 0.271 for B and 0.000 for A, and is recommended as the preferred material for crack sealing of high-altitude airport asphalt pavements.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma19153329","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T13:16:29Z","timestamp":1785935789000},"page":"3329","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Multi-Scale Characterization of Interfacial Adhesion and Material Selection for Crack Sealants in High-Altitude Airport Asphalt Pavements"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Shuqi","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Highway, Chang\u2019an University, Xi\u2019an 710064, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yukun","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Highway, Chang\u2019an University, Xi\u2019an 710064, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoyi","family":"Du","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Highway, Chang\u2019an University, Xi\u2019an 710064, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bing","family":"Hui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Highway, Chang\u2019an University, Xi\u2019an 710064, China"},{"name":"The Key Laboratory of Intelligent Construction and Maintenance of CAAC, Chang\u2019an University, Xi\u2019an 710064, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5087","DOI":"10.1080\/10298436.2021.1995733","article-title":"A Mechanistic Perspective for Airfield Pavements Evaluation Focusing on the Asphalt Layers\u2019 Behaviour","volume":"23","author":"Gkyrtis","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int. 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