14 April 2015

Victrex

Dr. Richard Ainsworth

VICTREX® PAEK Solutions Testing for Assurance and Lifetime Prediction in Harsh Environments

Victrex Confidential

Infrastructure

Technical Centre’s in the UK,

China and Japan plus offices

in the US, Germany & Korea

one of the highest performing

thermoplastics in the world

Global Presence Our Key Product

7,150t

New plant to open in 2015 to increase

production following £90m investment

No.1 PAEK Capacity

700+ Employees in 16 Countries

Countries are

served by Victrex

across our markets

97% 97%

Revenue generated

outside the UK

40+ 40+

c£2bn Market Value

FTSE 250, listed since 1995

£250+m Revenue2014

Financial Performance

of Shaping Future Performance

Focus Industries

Technology and Product Leadership

through focused and market-led innovation

35+ years

Automotive

Electronics

Aerospace

Energy Medical

Victrex at a Glance Facts & Figures 2014

Value Creation through

High Performance

World Leader in

Polymer Solutions

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Towards a capability in compatibility and predictive lifetimes

Overview

Existing approaches to assessment of chemical resistance and life

prediction

• NORSOK M710 and its limitations

VICTREX PEEK performance in harsh chemicals

• Beyond NORSOK M710 and ISO 23936

• Limits

Fundamental understanding

• Understanding the chemistry

• Data informs Quantum Mechanical modelling

• Towards a predictive capability

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Simulating Downhole Environments

Existing Approaches

Industry standard tests (ISO, NORSOK, ASTM, API)

• Immersion under set of pre-determined conditions

• Evaluation of mass uptake and mechanical properties under ambient conditions

• Different ageing temperatures estimates lifetime at lower temperature

Company-specific standards and testing

• Accelerated life testing

• Evaluation of property degradation over time using components loaded in real conditions

• Example: compression of a seal under service loads

Materials suppliers

• Provide useful data on expected lifetimes under realistic conditions

• Component tests are too specific

• Information useful to one end-user may not be useful to another

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Example

NORSOK M710 / ISO Ageing Test

Select an environment

Select the property of interest

Agree upon failure criteria

Immerse test pieces at a range of temperatures

Measure the degradation of selected properties over time

Make lifetime predictions for operational temperatures

• Lower than test temperatures

• Pre-supposes that tests proceed until failure (>50% property loss)

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Industry-Standard Testing

Limitations

Many thermoplastics do not exhibit ‘progressive’ property degradation

within manageable timescales

• PTFE and Victrex PEEK have high thermal and chemical stability

Product complies with the standard at temperatures up to and including

the upper test temperature for the duration of the test

• No estimate of lifetime can be provided unless 50% of properties are lost

• Lifetime will be longer than 840 hours but the test doesn’t help us show this

• Recognised to some extent in ISO 23936-2

Little or no

change in

properties in

“standard”

environments

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High Performance Polymer

VICTREX® PEEK 450G™

Tensile bars immersed in the

hydrocarbon phase with three

different levels of H2S in the

gaseous phase

We must test in very high sour gas

concentrations because we are

unlikely to see any measurable

change otherwise

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Durability in a Wide Range of Corrosive Chemicals

VICTREX PEEK in Harsh Chemicals

100% retention of strength in methanol at 200°C (392°F)

<1% mass uptake in crude oil at 140°C (284°F) at equilibrium/saturation

<3.5% mass uptake in methanol at 23°C (73°F) after 3-year immersion

<6% mass uptake in methanol at 200°C (392°F)

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Testing Beyond NORSOK M-710

Aggressive Fluids and Gases

Current test standards do not provide useful data

3 phases vs. 1 phase in standard test with 100% H2S gas fraction

• Gas, hydrocarbon, seawater

• 1-phase test required by NORSOK

100% retention of strength

• All three phases at 175°C (347°F) after 1,000 hours

• Hydrocarbon and seawater phases at 220°C (428°F) after 1,000 hours

75+% retention of strength

• H2S gas phase at 220°C (428°F) after 1,000 hours

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VICTREX® PEEK 450G™

Pushing the Usage Envelope

• Evaluated VICTREX 450G™ in three-phase sour environment with 100% H2S gas

fraction

• Some indication of chemical degradation in the most extreme experiment

• How to relate results from high concentrations to low concentrations of sour gas?

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At Ultra HP/HT conditions and in aggressive media

There are limits

Effect of accelerated aging on the

properties of PAEK polymers in various

downhole fluids at HP/HT; Ren et al.,

Baker Hughes, Conference Proceedings:

High Performance Polymers for Oil and

Gas 2013.

Performance gaps of

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) in Ultra-

HP/HT oil and gas applications; Ren et

al., Baker Hughes, Conference

Proceedings: SPE Antec 2014.

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Chemical and Physical

Types of Interaction

Chemical interaction

• Cross-linking (increasing molecular weight)

• Degradation (decreasing molecular weight) or

• Modification to the polymer molecule

• Irreversible leading to significant, permanent changes in the properties of the polymer

• Oxidation

• Chlorination

• Sulphonation

• Hydrolysis

Physical interaction

• Softening (plasticizing)

• Swelling.

• Removal of the chemical and drying of the polymer can return it close to original state

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What’s happening at the molecular level?

Fundamental Understanding

Molecular weight determination – GPC and solution viscometry

Reveal if chemical attack leads to a reduction in molecular weight

Distinguish from the effects of absorption and swelling

Provide information on branching and cross-linking

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220°C, 100% H2S, Aqueous Phase

Empirical Data

Tensile strength changes very little over the course of the experiment

Slight reduction in Molecular weight

Very little branching in evidence

Bonds are being broken

Which bonds, how quickly?

PEEK 0h

Sour 220°C aqueous 500h

Sour 220°C aqueous 1000h Reduced viscosity

Tensile Strength

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Leads to prediction; stimulates innovation

QM Modelling

Empirical data informs a Quantum Mechanical computer model

The model informs future testing, thus forming a virtuous circle

Refine Model

Understanding

Refine Testing

Empirical Data

New Materials

Predictive Capability

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Reaction pathways and kinetics

Understanding

Bond orders

Bond dissociation energies

Thermodynamic driving forces

Transition states

Kinetics

Product 3TS3’

TS_inter

TS 3

Inter

TS 2

Reactant

Product 2

+ H2O

Environment Rate of Mw

Change

Rate of Mechanical

Change

Lifetime Prediction

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Summary

Conclusions

Existing approaches to assessment of chemical resistance and life

prediction are of limited value

VICTREX PEEK demonstrates supreme performance in the

harshest of environments

Understanding chemical interactions is key to understanding

performance

Quantum mechanical modelling can inform what reactions take

place and how quickly

Victrex continues to pioneer insights into lifetime prediction and

understanding the chemical resistance capacity of Victrex PAEKs

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Questions?

Victrex Confidential

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