Study on a Thermoresponsive Shape Memory Polymer Used in Down-Hole Packer

Shape memory polymer (SMP) is being studied and anticipated to be used in a novel down-hole packer. SMP is capable of recovering a predetermined shape following environmental changes, allowing the packer to be altered to a smaller size during run in and to retain its original configuration after activated by the heat in the wellbore. This paper describes the work involved in studying the shape recovery performance of a polyethylene based thermoresponsive SMP under different conditions. The influence of temperature, pressure and degree of deformation on the SMP’s shape recovery performance has been characterized.