Suitability of polyacrylamide superabsorbent polymers as the internal curing agent of well cement

The research objectives were designed to investigate polyacrylamide superabsorbent polymers as internal curing agent to mitigate autogenous shrinkage of well cement. Results show that poly acrylamide superabsorbent polymer hydrolyzes in alkaline circumstance of cement slurry at high temperature, which causes water absorption increase and then has negative effects on thickening and compressive strength. Due to steric hindrance effect and carrying negative charge, poly acrylamide/bentonite/N,N-dimethyl acrylamide superabsorbent polymer has ability to prevent the addition reaction between hydroxyl ion and acylamino to stably exist in well cement and reduce autogenous shrinkage significantly when the dosage is 0.3 wt%.