The shear stability mechanism of cyclodextrin polymer and amphiphilic polymer inclusion gels

Abstract In order to improve the shear resistance of amphiphilic polymer gel, cyclodextrin polymer is selected to construct inclusion polymer gel named as CADC inclusion gel. The critical shear condition was determined to be 4000 rpm and 7 min through rheological method. Under this condition, variety of instruments such as rheometer, scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to prove CADC inclusion gel has more excellent shear stability than amphiphilic polymer gel. This is because the cyclodextrin structure in CADC inclusion gel can reorganize amphiphilic polymer which has been broken via host-guest inclusion effect. At the same time, the sand pack tube was used to test plugging performance of the sheared CADC inclusion gel. The formation of such host-guest inclusion gel solves the problem of poor shear resistance ability of amphiphilic polymer gel. It has great potentials to replace the amphiphilic polymer gel for water shutoff applications in oilfield.