Nanomodified Methyl Methacrylate Polymer for Sealing of Microscale Defects in Wellbore Systems
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 31, Issue 7
Abstract
Microscale defects (microannuli) at the steel-cement and rock-cement interfaces are a major cause of failure in the integrity of wellbore systems. Microscale defects/microcracks as small as 30 μm are sufficient to create a significant leakage pathway for fluids. In this paper, the authors propose the use of nanomodified methyl methacrylate (NM-MMA) polymer as a seal material for 30-μm microcracks. Four materials were evaluated for their ability to serve as an effective seal material to seal 30-μm microcracks: microfine cement, epoxy, methyl methacrylate (MMA), and NM-MMA incorporating 0.5% by weight aluminum nanoparticles (ANPs). The seal materials’ bond strengths with shale were investigated using push-out tests. In addition, the ability to flow fluid through the microcracks was investigated using sagittal microscopic images. Viscosity, surface tension, and contact angle measurements explain the superior ability of MMA seal materials to flow into very thin microcracks compared with other materials. Post-test analysis shows MMA repair materials are capable of completely filling the microcracks. In addition, incorporating ANPs in MMA resulted in significant improvement in seal material ductility. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) showed that incorporating ANPs in MMA reduced the creep compliance and improved creep recovery of NM-MMA. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows that incorporating ANPs in MMA resin increases the degree of polymer crystallization, resulting in significant improvement in seal material ductility.
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Acknowledgments
This research was funded by Sandia National Laboratories LDRD program. The authors greatly acknowledge this support. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Kateryna Artyushkova for facilitating the use of the force tensiometer and Dr. Eric Peterson for his help in conducting and analyzing the XRD test. We thank Dr. Thomas Dewers of Sandia National Labs for a careful technical review of this manuscript. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract DE-NA-0003525. SAND2019-1248 J. This paper describes objective technical results and analysis. Any subjective views or opinions that might be expressed in the paper do not necessarily represent the views of the US Department of Energy or the United States Government.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 31 • Issue 7 • July 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 31, 2018
Accepted: Jan 14, 2019
Published online: May 6, 2019
Published in print: Jul 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Oct 6, 2019
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