Accelerated-Aging Screening Data for Polymer Liners in Oil and Gas Flexible Composite Pipes: A Communication

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Engineering
• Petroleum Engineering

Background:

• Flexible composite pipes are crucial for oil and gas extraction.
• Polymer liners are essential components, requiring robust material selection.
• Limited screening data exists for polymer candidates under various operational stresses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide preliminary engineering screening data on polymer liner candidates for flexible composite pipes.
• To evaluate material performance under hydrothermal aging, thermal-oxidative aging, and hydrocarbon exposure.
• To identify promising materials and highlight areas for future research.

Main Methods:

• Testing included hydrothermal aging (superheated water), thermal-oxidative aging (dry air), and hydrocarbon-medium exposure.
• Evaluated changes in tensile properties, Shore hardness, mass, and thickness.
• Limited replicate data necessitated descriptive summary reporting for most conditions.

Main Results:

• EPDM formulation CL-2-1 retained ~89% tensile strength after 1000h in superheated water.
• Sample L exhibited less tensile strength decrease than Sample Z after 168h dry air aging at 150°C.
• XL95A/05B-S1 showed lower mass increase and reduced tensile/yield stress degradation versus PERT XRT70H in hydrocarbon media.

Conclusions:

• Preliminary data suggests EPDM CL-2-1 and XL95A/05B-S1 as potential candidates.
• Further replicated testing, statistical analysis, extended aging, and structural characterization are needed.
• Definitive material selection and durability conclusions require more comprehensive data.