Developments in Nanolaminated Materials to Enhance the Performance and Longevity of Metal Components in Offshore Applications

摘要

Nature provides many examples of the incorporation of laminated structures that have evolved over agesto enable novel classes of material that are stiffer, harder and tougher than the “Rule of Mixtures” for thesame materials would otherwise predict. Modumetal has lead efforts to emulate nature’s tougheningmechanisms by configuring layered metal, ceramic and polymer matrices into laminated structure. Thisinnovation has demonstrated material properties that many times to many orders of magnitude greaterperformance that of their constituents1.While derived from the same basic raw materials as conventional metals, Modumetal’s nanolaminatedalloys can be used virtually anywhere conventional metals and alloys are used today, but they providesignificant performance improvements over conventional metals, including: superior strength, corrosionresistance, wear resistance, thermal properties, fatigue performance and more. Similar in concept to thedifference in structure of plywood versus homogeneous wood, Modumetal’s products are layered on thenanometer scale, a configuration which affords this significant increase in performance. Modumetal isbringing nanolaminated alloys and protective alloy coatings to the industrial marketplace through patentedmanufacturing techniques which deliver nanolaminated alloys at a cost that is competitive with conventional,homogeneous metal alloys. It is this combination of ultra-high performance and competitive costthat are the foundation of Modumetal’s value proposition to industrial sector users.Since the Company’s founding in 2007, Modumetal has partnered with organizations across energy,steel manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, defense and construction sectors to develop specific nanolaminatedalloy systems for these industrial markets. The performance and value of Modumetal’snanolaminated coating products have been validated by industry leaders in the upstream oil and gas sector,which are now conducting full-scale field trials after several years of successful specification testing. Thispaper focuses on test results from those applications of nanolaminated materials which improve thelongevity of assets and support increased efficiency over the extended life. Applications for offshore rigmaintenance and downhole production lift systems are described. Due to its low-cost, low-capex manufacturing process, Modumetal can provide improvements at comparable or lower cost to conventionalmetals.