Synthesis and characterization of SSS/HAM/AA terpolymer as a fluid loss additive for oil well cement

ABSTRACT A terpolymer comprising of sodium styrene sulfonate (SSS), n‐methylol acrylamide (HAM), and acrylic acid (AA) was synthesized by aqueous free radical copolymerization and evaluated as fluid loss additive (FLA) in oil well cement. In this article, HAM is first introduced in the preparation of FLA as an environment‐friendly monomer, which effectively improves the adhesion and fluid loss control of the terpolymer. The experimental synthesis conditions were optimized by orthogonal experiments. The molecule weight of the terpolymer was determined by gel permeation chromatography. The molecule structure of the synthesized terpolymer was verified by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transformer infrared spectrum. The thermal stability of the synthesized terpolymer was tested by thermogravimetry (TG). The structure of the terpolymer aqueous solution was observed by scanning electron microscope. The results show that SSS/HAM/AA has an excellent thermal resistant. The thermal degradation is not obvious before 295.2 °C. Furthermore, the microstructure of SSS/HAM/AA in water conducive to good fluid loss control ability. When the dosage of SSS/HAM/AA is up to 2.0% in fresh water cement slurry, the filtration loss [FL(HTHP)] can be controlled within 50 mL at 90–150 °C. SSS/HAM/AA has an excellent property of reducing filtration loss. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46266.