Nanotechnology is hot, and much has been written and said about its promised impact on the oil and gas industry (to name just one area). But nano is not the only game in town;

Figure 1. New lightweight materials developed by HRL Laboratories in collaboration with the University of Southern California’s Composites Center are created by rapidly forming tiny 3-dimensional truss-like patterns. (Image courtesy of HRL Laboratories, LLC)
advances in numerous areas of materials science are popping up with increasing frequency. Although many of these advances do not target the oil and gas industry specifically, some of them will almost certainly turn up here as a result of the industry’s accelerated efforts to seek new ideas further afield. A conference to be held shortly after this is written is an example of just how far out these cross-pollination efforts are going. “Pumps & Pipes I” intends to be a “…unique collaborative initiative between Houston’s [medical and energy] industries designed to explore potential crossover ideas and technologies.”

New materials will certainly appear in our industry from a variety of sources. While keeping in mind what is often said in materials science — the first thing you hear about a new material is usually the best thing you’ll hear about it — some interesting prospects are worth a look. Because not all are commercial, some visualization may be required.

New lightweight materials
HRL Laboratories, LLC, a corporate research and development laboratory owned by Boeing and General Motors, has developed what they call “micro-architected” materials. HRL says these materials, developed in collaboration with the University of Southern California’s Composites Center, show considerable promise for enabling lighter-weight vehicles with higher performance, such as automobiles with greater fuel efficiency, longer range aircraft and rotorcraft, and increased capacity launch vehicles and space systems.

The technique developed at HRL exploits the micro-scale to make remarkably stiff, strong and lightweight material structures. At the core are three-dimensional, truss-like — as in bridge support — patterns (Figure 1), fashioned via a unique research approach that crisscrosses polymer optical fibers on the micrometer level. With further improvements in the process and materials choice, the micro-scale structural properties could easily exceed those of current engineering materials such as steel or aluminum alloys.

HRL and USC researchers take advantage of a phenomenon used in forming polymer optical
Figure 2. TEM micrographs of an eight element glass forming steel alloy (SHS717) that has been devitrified at 1,291°F (700°C) for 10 minutes. a) Ideal laboratory structure — average grain size 25 nm, b) HVOF coating — average grain size 50 nm, c) wire-arc coating — average grain size 80 nm. (Image courtesy of The NanoSteel Company)
waveguides as the basis for their scalable, three-dimensional process. Polymer waveguides are optical fibers that can be formed in seconds from a single point exposure of light in an appropriate photo-sensitive substance. The researchers showed that simultaneously forming a three-dimensional interconnected pattern of waveguides results in a polymer structure with micrometer-sized truss features.

Unlike typical foam materials that are soft and flexible because of their random cellular structure, these new materials maximize mechanical stiffness and strength. While the initial structures are polymers, subsequent processing can transform them into a wide variety of metals, ceramics or composites with properties tailored to a given application.

The researchers say that by changing the overall pattern of the optical processing used to create these materials and the material composition you can change the applications to medicine, such as stronger, biocompatible tissue scaffolding, bone implants or skin grafts. Change the pattern and the material composition again, and you can create improved current collectors for batteries and cooling architectures for high-power electronics.

Bulk materials nanotechnology
The NanoSteel Company has developed hardfacing materials that should be considered differently than popular conceptions of nanotechnology. “In the materials world, there are two distinct usages of the term nanotechnology,” the company says in a discussion on its Web site. “One application of this is called Particulate Materials Nanotechnology which involves producing materials or particles on a dimensional length scale that is nanoscale. Nanoparticulate materials are used for applications as diverse as catalysts for chemical reactions, as pigments, as UV absorption particles in lotions, and are the basis for future nanomachines in what has been termed the ‘Feynman Vision.’ The other class of nanomaterials technology is called Bulk Materials Nanotechnology and involves shrinking the microstructural scale (i.e., phase/grain size) down to the nanoscale regime. The ability to develop nanostructured microstructures in bulk materials, originally shown for high energy density permanent magnets, allows our technology to be implemented on an industrial scale not as a specialty product but as mainstream technology.

“As an example of successful commercialization of Bulk Materials Nanotechnology, consider the devitrified TEM microstructures of our commercial steel SHS717 alloy shown for the “ideal” targeted microstructure, the HVOF coating, and the wire-arc coating in Figures 2a, 2b and 2c, respectively. While the coating structures are coarser than the ‘ideal’ structure and additionally contain isolated larger scaled regions which formed during solidification, they are still nanoscale which is remarkable considering that they were processed in air using off the shelf thermal spray technology at a typical industrial thermal spray job shop.”

The company’s patented Super Hard Steel (SHS) products based on this technology are iron-based materials with strengths up to four times that of current steel. The material forms very small property-enhancing, nanometer-sized grain structures. In doing so, SHS performance is well above that of conventional steel and into the realm of tungsten-carbide products for wear and nickel-based superalloys for corrosion, without the associated high cost. The material can be used with conventional processing and application equipment, according to the company. It is applied by thermal spray, welding and laser cladding processes.

Ultra-light extruded alloy
Aluminum alloys for applications such as drill pipe continue to advance. Alcoa, for example, has introduced ultra-light drill pipe that has equivalent steel pipe performance but at half the net weight, according to the company. These new drill strings are intended to provide significant operational advantages for those running extended reach drilling operations, ultra-deep water drilling operations, or using existing assets in deeper drilling operations. Mechanical properties are comparable to Grade E steel drill pipe but weigh about 50% less.

Aluminum alloy drill pipe (AADP) has a number of benefits:
• Up to 16% time-savings. Low weight aluminum pipe yields dramatically increase tripping speed. Contractors report up to 16% time savings on rigs using aluminum. On typical projects this saves one in seven days.
• Lower fuel costs. At 50% the weight of steel, AADP requires less fuel per trip and less fuel for string rotation. In addition, the lower string rotation torque means improved fuel efficiency as well as less fuel required for drilling operations and transport.
• Better drilling characteristics. Comparable to Grade E steel, AADP tends to self-straighten in the hole. And its elasticity and resiliency result in lower lateral wall forces reducing abrasive action and wear on tool joints and the body of the pipe itself. This improves AADP capability for extended reach and directional drilling. In addition, alloy pipe has superior fatigue characteristics and better performance in H2S than Grade E pipe.
• Improved dependability. Aluminum drill stem flexibility reduces tool joint stress to optimize tool integrity and life. In addition, AADP’s consistent joint length allows more efficient racking and safer handling.
• Improved safety and reliability. AADP has greater safety in operation with less crew fatigue due to lower weight. For example, if dropped, AADP has much lower impact forces and causes less damage to rotary table. Crew fatigue is reduced when working with lighter aluminum strings. Further, the greater elasticity of aluminum allows for much more tension and torsion movement in emergency situations, thus allowing for more reaction time before catastrophic damage.