Experimental studies on CO2 corrosion of rubber materials for packer under compressive stress in gas wells

The corrosion performance of rubber materials exposed to high temperature high pressure CO2 environment has been investigated under a compressive state. The dissimilarity of attack was compared in two exposure conditions i.e. gaseous CO2 and liquid CO2 under different compressive stress by mechanical properties testing and morphology analysis. Experimental comparisons showed that rubber samples exposed to liquid CO2 exhibited greater reactivity as compared to gaseous CO2. The existence of compressive stress would aggravate the corrosion of CO2 to rubber materials. Factors that affect the corrosion process have been discussed to evaluate corrosion behavior of the packer rubber materials.