Ageing of polymers and composites in extreme environments

SINTEF has developed pressure vessels to study the ageing of polymers and composites at high pressures and temperatures in combination with strong chemicals.

Our apparatus: The vessels can withstand pressures of 300 bar and temperatures up to 230 ºC. The container is designed to hold strong solvents, for instance as defined in Norsok M710. Typical chemicals are crude oil, heptane, cyclohexane, toluene, methanol and salt water. The container can also be pressurised with gasses of various concentrations, for example H₂S, CH₄, N₂ and CO₂.

By exposing samples at different temperatures followed by mechanical testing (e.g. according to ASTM D3045 ”Standard practice for heat ageing of plastics without load”), the ageing degredation of the material can be determined. Results from such tests can be used to estimate the maximum working temperature for a given lifetime, or vice versa. A typical task would be to determine how high temperature a component can withstand for 20 years.

 
Contact person: Reidar Friberg, phone: +47 98 28 39 29