1. 14 April 2015
Victrex
Dr. Richard Ainsworth
VICTREX® PAEK Solutions
Testing for Assurance and Lifetime Prediction in Harsh Environments

2. 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£2bnMarket Value
FTSE 250, listed since 1995
£250+mRevenue2014
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
ValueCreation
through
High Performance
World Leader
in
Polymer Solutions

3. Victrex Confidential2
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

4. Victrex Confidential3
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

5. Victrex Confidential4
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)

6. Victrex Confidential5
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

7. Victrex Confidential6
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

8. Victrex Confidential7
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)

9. Victrex Confidential8
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

10. Victrex Confidential9
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?

11. Victrex Confidential10
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.

12. Victrex Confidential11
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

13. Victrex Confidential12
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

14. Victrex Confidential13
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

15. Victrex Confidential14
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

16. Victrex Confidential15
Reaction pathways and kinetics
Understanding
 Bond orders
 Bond dissociation energies
 Thermodynamic driving forces
 Transition states
 Kinetics
Product 3
TS3’
TS_inter
TS 3
Inter
TS 2
Reactant
Product 2
+ H2O
Environment
Rate of Mw
Change
Rate of
Mechanical
Change
Lifetime
Prediction

17. Victrex Confidential16
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

18. Victrex Confidential17
Questions?

19. Victrex Confidential
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CHARACTERISTICS AND/OR USES OF THE PRODUCT OR PRODUCTS, BUT IT IS THE CUSTOMER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO THOROUGHLY TEST THE
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