Mechanical characterization under CO2 of HNBR and FKM grade elastomers for oilfield applications-effects of 10GE reinforcements

Despite its importance in sealing, the fundamental understanding of the behavior of elastomeric seals in a gas environment is still incomplete. Further experimental investigations are required to obtain accurate predictive coupled model able to estimate the combining effects of gases and mechanical loading. The effect of CO2 pressure (2 and 6 MPa) on the mechanical behavior of HNBR and FKM seals at two temperatures (60 and 130 degrees C) is described in the paper. Seals of these two 10GE reinforced matrices are also tested to assess the contribution or not of these reinforcements. The results allow to classify the four materials according to their properties and indicates that HNBR is the most appropriate in this context. Moreover, they show that the reinforced materials suffer damage after the return to zero pressure at 60 and 130 degrees C (6 MPa exposure), inducing a loss of rigidity and therefore, such materials are not suitable for the gaseous environment.