Oil and gas wells undergo stresses induced by various downhole conditions that can lead to mechanical failures through fractures in cement sheaths, which forces production shutdown and high remedial costs. This phenomenon, the mechanical failure of cement, is a major cause of such well challenges as reduced production lifetime and CCA pressure buildup. To-date, best technologies in chemical additives for mitigation of such mechanical failures has been achieved by the addition of latex polymers to improve the mechanical strength of set cement.<br/><br/>In this study, the careful design of innovative aramid polymers resulted in beneficial improvements to the mechanical properties of Portland cement, rendering proprietary cement systems having high resistance to impact breakage and to fracture propagation in set cement. Favorable high-temperature resistance and ballistic-rated strength are characteristics of a family of polymers known as aramids, commonly used in aerospace and military applications as fibers and composites. These aramid polymers maintained all favorable characteristics and were designed as vesicles which proved to be the best performing additive for imparting cement sheath integrity. New methods for cement performance evaluation based upon tri-axial load cell measurements are presented, quantitatively analyzing the reliability of cement by measuring cumulative fatigue damage to predict cement failure. Compression strength, Young’s modulus, and Poisson’s ratio measurements under dynamic force loading conditions and at temperatures ranging from 70 to 350°F (21-177°C) were used to show significant improvements to cement elasticity and compression strength.

Durability performance of aramid-cement system

254th National Meeting (2017)

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