Elasticity and expansion test performance of geopolymer as oil well cement

Abstract

History has shown that geopolymer cement provides high compressive strength as compared to Class G cement. However, the research had been done at ambient temperature, not at elevated condition which is the common oil well situation. In this research, the physical and mechanical properties performance of the oil well cement were investigated by laboratory work for two types of cement that are geopolymer and Class G cement. The cement samples were produced by mixing the cement according to the API standards. Class C fly ash was used in this study. The alkaline solution was prepared by mixing sodium silicate with NaOH solution. The NaOH solution was prepared by diluting NaOH pellets with distilled water to 8M. The cement samples were cured at a pressure of 3000 psi and a temperature of 130 °C to simulate the downhole condition. After curing, the physical properties of the cement samples were investigated using OYO Sonic Viewer to determine their elastic properties. Autoclave expansion test and compressive strength tests were conducted to determine the expansion value and the strength of the cement samples, respectively. The results showed that the geopolymer cement has a better physical and mechanical properties as compared with Class G cement at elevated condition.