**4. Conclusions**

In this paper, the modification mechanism, microstructure, and rheological properties of hard asphalt binder produced by mixing TLA and VA were analyzed using infrared spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and DSR and BBR experiments. The performance of RHMA produced with hard asphalt was tested, and the following conclusions can be drawn.


**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.Z. and Y.Z.; methodology, J.Z., J.L. and G.L.; formal analysis, J.Z., J.L., G.L. and T.Y.; data curation, J.Z. and J.L.; writing—original draft preparation, J.Z., G.L., and T.Y.; writing—review and editing, G.L., T.Y. and Y.Z. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China through project 51378123 and the Graduate Research and Innovation Projects of Jiangsu Province (KYLX\_0167).

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** No new data were created or analyzed in this study. Data sharing is not applicable to this article.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China through project 51378123. The present article is also supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Graduate Research and Innovation Projects of Jiangsu Province (KYLX\_0167). The funding supported the FTIR spectra analysis and atomic force microscope test. The authors thank them for their support in the development of the project.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
