We investigated the short and long term aging of asphalt cement (AC) with different AFM techniques (topography, phase and friction imaging and nano-indentation experiments). The aging process induces a growth and nucleation of the asphaltene micelles with a concomitant reduction of the maltene phase, whereas the short term aging induces the formation of fractal-like micellar structures. The friction investigation shows that the aging processes reduce the binder friction coefficient by 50%, and this reduction occur predominantly during the short term aging, while the growth of the micelles occur predominantly during the long term aging. The micro-indentation experiments revealed that the aging processes cause a stiffening of the AC film (half-order of magnitude for short term aging, and one order of magnitude for long term aging). The aging process also increased the apparent viscosity of the AC films by half-order of magnitude. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.