Asphalt materials inevitably suffer crack problem caused by age, temperature and load, but recently self healing microcapsules containing rejuvenator have offered a promising way to solve this problem. In this paper, the microcapsules were prepared by in-situ polymerization method and optimum preparation conditions were carefully explored, and then the morphology, particle size, coating rate, thermal stability and molecular structure of microcapsules were comprehensively investigated. Moreover, the healing ability of asphalt containing microcapsules under conditions of low-temperature and fatigue load was fully studied. Results indicated that the microcapsules could survive during the asphalt melting process and showed good healing performance under conditions of low-temperature and fatigue load, but the healing efficiency increased first and then decreased with the additive amount of microcapsules, and the optimal additive amount of microcapsules was 0.3-0.5 wt% of the asphalt. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.