Prevention Strategy of Cement Slurry Sedimentation under High Temperature. Part 1: A Polymer with Continuous Thermo-Thickening Behavior from 48oC to 148oC

Traditional thermo-responsive polymers with amphiphilicity exhibit acute thermo-thickening behaviors through phase transition and cannot be used as stabilizer to prevent high-viscosity liquid from viscosity reduction versus increasing temperature. Therefore, this study aims to develop a water-soluble polymer that has both thickening ability and continuous thermo-thickening ability in a wide temperature range. Inspired by the researches about hydrophobically associating polymers, a novel thermo-thickening polymer with strong hydrophobicity (HTP) has been synthesized, which consists of acrylamide (AM), 2-Acrylamido-2-methyl propane sulfonic acid (AMPS) and a hydrophobic monomer with surfactant character (SHM). HTP has good thermal stability and moderate resistance to the salt and alkali. In particular, HTP exhibits a continuous thermo-thickening behavior from 48oC to 148oC and can mitigate the consistency reduction of cement slurry under high temperatures. A series of experimental results (including environ...