Ph.D RESEARCH PROPOSAL

A PhD IN MATERIAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON THE TOPIC FABRICATION OF PHENOL/SILOXANE COMPOSITES PIPES FOR APPLICATION IN THE OIL/GAS INDUSTRIES CHAPTER ONE 1.0 INTRODUCTION Underground pipelines made from carbon steel are mostly used in transporting natural resources such as crude oil and gas from one point to another. Steel pipes that are laid underground can go through adverse deterioration and susceptible to failure due to the chemical reactions and mechanical forces (Norhazilan et al., 2008; Zardasti et al., 2015). External corrosion has been identified as one of the two main causes of failure of buried pipelines worldwide (EGIG, 2008; CONCAWE, 2011; McConnell and Haswell, 2011; Norhazilan et al., 2012). With ever-increasing challenges in developing reliable and long lasting deep-water offshore structures for petroleum exploration and production, composite materials technology is expected to play a more important role in meeting the stringent requirements of cost effective operations and enabling the capability of petroleum technology and its supporting industries. Composite materials offer substantial weight reduction, superior corrosion resistance, long fatigue life, outstanding vibrational damping, energy absorption and unlimited potential of innovative and structural tailored materials to meet desired performance requirements. Along with low maintenance, low total life cycle costs and ease of fabrication, construction, installation, composite materials and structure are ideally suited for immediate and future deep water challenges (Wang and Dale, 1995).The petroleum industry is gradually building increased acceptance of composite structural materials some companies make extensive use of fibre glass reinforced composites pipe for onshore and offshore hydrocarbon gathering and transmission lines. A few companies have used FRP down hole tubing products. In offshore there is limited use of FRP products in secondary structure such as cable trays, walkways, railing and grating. Recent developments in the North Sea area have resulted in projected increased usage of FRP pipe for various types of low pressure water service offshore (Wale and Dale, 1995). Stringfellow, 1992 reported that the most important material is the glass reinforced epoxy (GRE), which has been used onshore for both low and high pressure applications with a wide variety of fluids, including hydrocarbons. By contrast, the main offshore applications have been confined so far to relatively low pressure aqueous services. The chemical resistance of GRE and the maximum temperature used in a particular fluid depends on the type of resin and hardener used. GRE tubes are largely immune to the effects of hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide. The most damaging chemical component is often water, rather than oil, although some highly aromatic species such as toluene and xylene can be damaging. General guidance on suitability for use in particular fluids is given by Stringfellow (1992) and by individual pipe manufacturers. Standards for the use of composite piping, such as ISO/DIS 14692 (2000), and qualification procedures, such as ASTM 2992 and ISO 109281 (1997) are facilitating the wider use of these products. Coatings have been developed which will reduce the rate at which fire exposure will affect GRP pipe (Sullivan, 2013). Current protective coating technology for oil and gas pipelines is recognised to have both technical and economical disadvantages. Many factors contribute to the complexity of designing efficient pipeline coating formulations, climate, properties of the substrate travelling through the pipeline, product flammability and rate of flow to name a few. In addition it must be taken into consideration if the pipeline is either laid underwater or underground and the coating must be formulated to provide long term terminal and external durability, the coating must be formulated with some basic tenets in mind (check reference). The use of phenolic resin as the polymer matrix in fire is being investigated as a fire resistant non-mettalic pipe. The features provided by phenolic resins include a low toxicity, flame spread and smoke developed indices. A recent technological breakthrough in this area will allow the use of this previously difficult material for fire resistant piping (Sullivan, 2013). 1.1 Structural Application of Composites for Offshore Operations Applications of composites in the offshore industries include: 1. Composite grids/grating 2. Hand rails and ladder components 3. Aqueous piping system 4. Water and fuel storage tanks, vessels 5. Low pressure composite valves 6. Sump caissons and pull tubes 7. Flexible and floating risers, drill pipes 8. Sub- sea structural components 9. Fire water pump casing and sea water lift pump casing 10. Blast and fire protection 11. Grating and stairways 12. Tethers and Tendons e.t.c (Suresh et. al., 2013) 1.2 Research problem Pipelines play a very critical role in the transportation of oil and gas process because oil moves through pipelines from one route to another. After the crude oil is separated from natural gas, pipelines transport oil from one carrier to another or directly to a refinery. Pipelines are indispensable for the safe reliable and efficient transportation of oil and gas. One of the key problems of the carrier pipeline systems in the oil and gas industry is the exposure of the pipes to corrosion failures caused by the interaction of pipe material and aggressive environments. According to statistics about 90% of all pipeline emergencies are due to corrosive processes. Protectives in use (means of electrochemical protection (ECP means), corrosion prevention chemicals (corrosion inhibitors) and insulation materials etc) mostly turn out to be inefficient. In this respect the acute problem of searching the alternative ways of upgrading the oil and gas pipeline systems in the industry, especially when transporting oil to aggressive environments. The application of pipes made of high strength and corrosion resistant composite and fibre patterns (CFP) is considered to be an evidently advanced and up-to date trend. The petroleum industry is gradually building increased acceptance of fibreglass reinforced plastic (FRP) materials some companies make extensive use of FRP pipe for onshore and offshore hydrocarbon gathering and transmission lines. A few companies have used FRP down hole tubing products. In offshore there is limited use of FRP products in secondary structure such as cable trays, walkways, railing and grating. Recent developments in the North Sea area have resulted in projected increased usage of FRP pipe for various types of low pressure water service offshore (Wang and Dale, 1995). Unprotected frp pipe made with epoxy resin systems will be consumed when exposed to fire but it is self extinguishing when the flame is removed. Under continuous fire exposure and with water flowing through the pipe, it tends to degrade to a given level and then maintains that performance level. The movement of fluid inside the pipe remains cool (i.e frp is a low conductor of heat) and gives an extinguishing effects (Sullivan, 2013). Efficient and economic adaptation of composite materials to offshore applications is an attractive research area. The important issues such as fire retardancy ability, corrosion resistance, interface bonding, aging in adverse environment and damage tolerance study of structural composites have to be studied and dealt with in designing and fabricating composites products for offshore applications. A lot of research work have been done on fibre glass reinforced epoxy pipes, but there is need to improve, design and develop new structural composites that can offer better properties such as resistance to smoke/toxicity in fire, lightweight, cost effective, mechanical properties, adverse environment, long term performance, corrosion resistance and fabrication of reliable pipes using different raw materials and method for fabricating integral structural material for application in the oil and gas industry when compared with GRE pipes. 1.3 Aim and Objectives of the research work The aim of this research work is to fabricate a structural material (glass reinforced pheolic/siloxane pipes) that is resistance to smoke/toxicity in fire, corrosion resistance (chemical and abrasion resistance), mechanical properties with good impact resistance and has good immunity adverse environments for offshore applications that can be use in minimizing pipeline welding and defects (dents, cracks and welding defects), pipeline maintenance to repair corrosion attacked steel pipes to block leakages, cost effective and lightweight composite material with easy installation system that can be substituted with old designed steel pipes for applications in the oil and gas industry. Improving testing, inspecting and protecting the likelihood of failures due to a variety of causes through damage tolerance studies of the fabricate composites pipes. This aim can be achieved by the following objectives of the study, which are given below: i. Synthesis of composite structure using phenolic/siloxane as polymer matrix and epoxy glass fibres as reinforcement ii. Surface characteristics, morphology and interface bonding of glass reinforced pheolic/siloxane composite sample will be observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) at room temperature. iii. Measurement of flammability resistance. iv. Measurement of chemical resistance. v. Determination of its mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural, impact and compression test. vi. Damage tolerance study of the synthesized glass reinforced pheolic/siloxane pipes. 1.4 Scope of the Research Work The scope of this research work will include fabrication of phenol/siloxane E-glass composite pipes (design based on ASTM D2996) using wind filament method, assessment of surface characteristics and morphology (interface bonding) of the fabricated composites, mechanical tests such as tensile (ASTM D638), flexural (ASTM D790), compression (ASTM D695M) and impact resistance test (ASTM D2444) will be carried out on composite samples. Fire resistance tests e.g pool fire tests, burner tests and furnace tests will be carried out on the composite samples. Also, chemical resistance test (ASTM C582), abrasion resistance tests and environmental behaviour/fatigue of the composites samples will be studied. Damage tolerance of the fabricated E-glass reinforced phenol/siloxane composites will also be studied. CHAPTER TWO 2.0 Methodology 2.1 Material Properties The materials that will be used in this research work are phenolic/siloxane (polymer matrix), E-glass fibres (reinforcement), additives (Alumina trihydrate, silicon gel e.t.c), moulds, filament winding machine, universal testing machine, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) e.t.c. E-glass fibres will be used in this research work because it has good tensile strength (3450 Mpa), low tensile modulus (70 Gpa), low cost, it is readily available both in commercial and industrial products and it is mostly used in filament winding while Phenolic /siloxane possess excellent flammability properties (e.g flame retardance, low smoke emissivity) though it is expensive with moderate strength and they are used in fire resistant system structures. 2.2 Method Filament winding technique will be used in fabricating E-glass reinforced phenolic/siloxane pipe composites in accordance with ASTM D2996 standards. The E-glass reinforced phenolic/siloxane composites will be subjected to mechanical tests such as tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength test, resistance to corrosion agents (CO2, H2S, Chlorides, Bicarbonates, Water), fire retardancy ability and its ability to withstand adverse environment. In a filament winding process a band of continuous resin impregnated rovings or monofilaments is wrapped around a rotating mandrel and then cured either at room temperature or in an oven to produce the final product. The technique offers high speed and precise method for placing many composite layers. The mandrel can be cylindrical, round or any shape that does not have rentrant curvature. Among the applications of filament winding are cylindrical and spherical pressure vessels, pipelines, oxygen and other gas cylinders, rocket motor casings, helicopter blades and large underground storage tanks (for gasoline, oil salts, acids, alkalines, water e.t.c.). The process is not limited to axis-symmetric structure; prismatic shapes and more complex parts such as tee-joints, elbows may be wound on machines equipped with the appropriate number of degrees of freedom. Filament winding technique allows production of strong and lightweight composites and both the reinforcement and the matrix can be tailor-made to satisfy almost any property demand. It aids in widening the applicability of filament winding to production of almost any commercial items wherein the strength to weight ratio is important. Apart from the strength-to-weight advantages and low cost of manufacturing, filament wound composites parts have better corrosion and electrical resistance properties (Muttana et al, 2016). 2.1.1 Scanning Electron Microscopy The surface characteristics, morphology and interface bonding will be observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) at room temperature. The SEM micrographs will be use to study the surface, fibre dispersion and interfacial bonding between the reinforcement and the polymer matrix. 2.1.2 Fire Resistance Test The fire resistant test that will be carried on the fabricated pipe composite sample is the furnace test. The structural material (composite samples) will be tested in the forms of panels; the side within in furnace will be subjected to high temperature in the furnace. Fire resistance will be determined by measuring the time taken for cool face of the panels to reach the temperature of 140oC. 2.1.3 Chemical Resistance Test Chemical resistance test of the fabricated composite samples will be carried out according to ASTM C582. The fabricated composites samples (E-glass reinforced phenolic/siloxane) will be exposed to chemicals such as strong acids used in acidizing treatments, strong acids used in dissolving scale, high concentrated aromatics used to dissolve disperse wax, methanol, strong oxidising agents used in biocides and standard hydrocarbon, aqueous and gas mixtures for a period of time. Physical changes and degradation of the composites samples will be observed. 2.1.4 Tensile and Flexural Test Tensile tests and flexural properties of the PSX/ E-glass composites will be determined according to ASTM D638 and ASTM D790 standard method using a universal testing machine (model 4202) respectively. The upper surface of the composite sample will be put into compression the central portion will experience shear and the lower portion will experience tension. The following tensile properties such as tenacity, percentage extension, initial Young’s modulus and work of rupture e.t.c will be determined. Stress-strain curves will be obtained at different guage lengths. A 3-point point loading system will be employed to determine the flexural strength of fabricated composites. 2.1.5 Impact Resistance Test The impact resistance properties will be determined in accordance with ASTM D2444 standard method using Charpy Impact Testing Machine. The machine consists of a suspended pendulum with a mass of 25.4 kg dropped at a velocity of 3.46 m/s. 3 replicate samples will be tested and the results will be presented as an average of the tested samples. Impact resistance is the ability of a material to resist breaking under a shock loading or the ability to resist the fracture under stress applied at high speed. Impact behaviour is one of the most widely specified mechanical properties of engineering materials. 2.1.6 Compression Test The compression test of the fabricated composite samples will be conducted according to ASTM D695M and ASTM D 2105. The results obtained will be recorded. CHAPTER THREE 3.0 Conclusion The high cost of traditional steel piping and increased failure of steel pipes due to corrosion in the oil/ gas industries and other factors are driving industries to use composites, which can be designed to withstand severe conditions that are experienced in the offshore environment. A pipe made of reinforced composite pipe materials can be constructed and put in service in a relatively short time and at a competitive cost. The consideration of using composite pipes will bring hope of avoiding introduction of welding associated risk, eliminates cost and service outages associated with conventional repairs compared to steel piping which require pipeline shutdown prior to welding. Successful design and fabrication of phenolic/siloxane composite will lead to development of structural materials that can retains its integrity for a long time and offers better properties for applications in the oil and gas industry. References ASTM C581 Standard practice for determining chemical resistance of thermosetting resins used in glass fibre reinforced structures for liquid service ASTM C582 Standard specification for contact-molded reinforced thermoseting resins used in glass fibre reinforced structures intended for liquid service ASTM D638 Standard test method for tensile properties of plastics. ASTM D790 Standard test methods for flexural properties of unreinforced and reinforced plastics and electrical insulating materials. ASTM D 792 Test methods for density and specific gravity (relative density) of plastics by displacement ASTM D1599 Standard test method for resistance to short-time hydraulic pressure of plastic pipe tubing and fittings. 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