Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Surve, Kapil
• Cai, Michael
• Yun, Jushik
• Zolfaghari, Alireza
• Krishnamoorti, Ramanan
• Bhowmick, Anil K.

Titel

Effect of extreme environments on aging of fluoroelastomers

Ist Teil von

• Polymer degradation and stability, 2024-09, Vol.227, p.110875, Article 110875

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• •In-depth analysis of properties of FKM elastomers before and after aging at long times, high temperatures, and high pressures in water and aggressive fluid.•Holistic investigation approach by concurrently examining mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties alongside swelling behavior.•Investigation of practical environmental effects in water and hydraulic fluid, on degradation of field FKM sample.•Proposed degradation scheme outlining the intricate degradation pathways and integrating findings from mechanical, thermal, and chemical analyses. Fluoroelastomer compositions are used in extreme environments, such as high pressure and high temperature (HPHT), in a wide range of applications in the oil and gas industry. As hydrocarbon production is expanded to deeper formations, and operating temperature and pressure become higher, the material performance of these elastomers becomes more important. Hence, fluoroelastomers face new challenges and require further understanding when these undergo aging. In this study, a practical fluoroelastomer (FKM) composition was aged in deionized water and an alkaline hydraulic fluid up to 31 MPa, 225 °C and 168 hrs. High pressure, high temperature and aging time have deleterious effects on the physical and mechanical properties of FKMs in both the fluids. Spectroscopically, under these conditions, two hydrocarbon-related bands at 2917 and 2850 cm−1 and three fluorocarbon bands at 886, 1158 and 1396 cm−1 in the Fourier Transform Infrared spectra decreased in intensity after aging. The temperature, at which the rate of degradation was maximum, measured through thermogravimetry also decreased under HPHT conditions. It was further observed that the filler particles bound to the rubber leached out during the aging experiment to cause a color change of the fluid. The tensile sheet was delaminated with cracks on the surface under extreme conditions due to rapid changes in the properties of the surface compared to the bulk. Based on the characterization of the aged rubber vulcanizate and the particles leached out into the aging fluid, a mechanism of HPHT aging of FKM vulcanizate is proposed, which would be helpful in designing fluorocarbon compositions in extreme environments. [Display omitted]