Centre on new elastomer research for O&G

Centre on new elastomer research for O&G

Glyn Morgan, the oil and gas sector manager of research centre of Elements Materials Technology, Hitchin, UK, says his centre has come up with new testing methods incorporating novel component designs to address the extreme temperatures and pressures faced by elastomers in oil & gas industry.

“Elastomers are widely used in the oil & gas industry as seals, hoses, flexible joints, pipes and liners. The industry faces increasingly hostile exploration and production environments which have led to innovative materials and designs to meet the rigorous qualification and service requirements,” he said in a presentation at the technical session on elastomers in extreme environments.

The event was sponsored by the Rubber in Engineering Group (RIEG), hosted by IOM3 on 12 Dec 2014.

“To see what is happening to a seal as it functions or leaks ‘in the dark’ is worth a thousand hours,” says Morgan, who goes on to explain that Element has developed two sapphire-windowed pressure vessels where scientists could see the changes in elastomers as they happened.

After a series of tests, Morgan concluded that “seal movement under the influence of applied pressure is a primary factor in sealing capability,” adding that glass transition remained a reliable, albeit conservative, basis for seal selection, provided that significant thermal ageing does not occur during service.