Project Title:
Polymer Cement for Oil Well Applications
Student Researcher(s):
Ruchir Shanbhag, Zach Melrose
Summary:
Cement is one of the most widely used construction material, whose fundamental composition has remained largely unchanged since its initial implementation by the ancient Romans. Current civil infrastructure and oil extraction industries rely upon ‘tried and true’ concrete mixtures and have been slow to adopt new technologies.
Development efforts have predominantly focused on the reinforcing aggregates and binders while neglecting the matrix component. The replacement of the cement matrix with a polymeric material presents an opportunity to develop a new generation of high performance cementitious composite materials.