Alloys in Oil & Gas
End Uses in Oil & Gas
- Drill bit bearings
- Non-magnetic motor flex drive shafts
- Non-magnetic pressure housings for downhole electronics and batteries in Measurement While Drilling (MWD) tools, Logging While Drilling (LWD) tools, and Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) steering tools
- Drill string non-magnetic, non-galling downhole disconnect collars
- Drill string centralizers, stabilizers and shock collars
- Rotary steerable drilling tool hardware including housings, actuators, bearings, pistons, power transmission joints, drive shafts, etc. in control and bias units
- Subsea valve gates, actuators, and seats
- Subsea BOP locking rings
- Subsea well control manifold hydraulic connectors
- Sour Service sub sea valve actuators. Lifting nuts, other mechanical bearings
- Kelly valve seats
- Reservoir completion and formation isolation valve indexers
- Non-magnetic mud motor components
- Expandable well casing equipment components
- Drill string connection Thread Savers
- Fasteners
- Sour service sucker rods and polished rods
- Coiled tubing for umbilicals, gas well capillary strings, control tubing and fiber optic shielding
- Completion and production equipment
- Electrical and electronic connectors
- Shaped charge liners and perforation guns
Why Brush Wellman Alloys?
Brush Wellman alloys 25 AT, 25 HT, 25 DST (Drill String Temper), ToughMet® 3AT, 3TS and 3CX are used for natural resource exploration, drilling, completion and production equipment because of their unique combination of properties, their excellent quality, and their consistent reliability. These alloys are available in rod/bar and tube forms, and demonstrate:
- High tensile, compressive, shear, fatigue, and corrosion fatigue strength combined with good ductility. Brush Wellman alloys are produced to engineered tempers specially designed for specific mechanical needs.
- Property stability at elevated temperatures.
- The highest modulus of resiliency in commercially available metals.
- High hardness, excellent wear resistance and cavitation erosion resistance.
- Resistance to chloride stress cracking and pitting.
- Resistance to hydrogen embrittlement and stress corrosion cracking in sour environments (publications). ToughMet®3 is also resistant to general weight loss corrosion in sour environments at elevated temperature (Engineering Guide to ToughMet , Design Center). See also Sour Service Testing of ToughMet®
- Resistance to sea water corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement, even in cathodically protected systems.
- Magnetic permeability near unity. Brush Wellman alloys are non-magnetic, have no magnetic “hot spots”, nor will develop localized magnetic behavior when subjected to mechanical strain or abrasion.
- Non-galling/non-seizing to metals such as austenitic stainless steels, nickel, titanium and aluminum alloys, and HVOF coated steels.
- Excellent machinability.
- The ability to be joined by welding, brazing and soldering.
- A stable coefficient of friction when mated with other materials over a wide range of speeds and loads.
- High torque threaded connection make-up capability. Threaded savers allow drill pipe connection torque to be increased more than 50% above standard API practices without galling or damage to threads, eliminating the need for non-seizing thread compounds (Thread Saver Patent).
- High fracture toughness and fatigue crack propagation resistance, from cryogenic (see Design Center) to elevated temperatures. Unlike steel, there is no ductile/brittle fracture transition behavior.
Benefits of Using Brush Alloys in Oil & Gas Applications
Natural resource development presents materials engineers with the challenge of designing components for one of the most complex and hostile environments possible. Capital and operating costs connected with major resource development projects are very high and protection of the environment throughout the life of the project is paramount. Consequently, delays or accidents from equipment wear, malfunction, or failure on an offshore oil platform can be economically and environmentally damaging.
Functionality and reliability of critical equipment under these conditions is an absolute necessity and requires the best material. Brush Wellman alloys are used where no other materials will succeed. Engineers choose Brush Wellman alloys to solve the challenges connected with natural resource development and production because Brush Wellman has decades of experience in this industry and unsurpassed technical knowledge of the characteristics and applications of its alloys. Brush Wellman shares this information freely and is active in the development of new materials, like ToughMet®3, and new devices, like the Threaded Spacer, because of a long-term commitment to the natural resource industry.
Brush Wellman alloys have enabled the modern exploration and production methods used in the on-shore and off-shore oil and gas fields. Today, every major oil and oilfield service company uses Brush Wellman alloys in their operations. As environments grow more demanding (deeper water, deeper wells, more challenging well environments) the use of Brush Wellman materials continues to grow.
Strength, non-magnetic behavior, excellent machinabilty, wear and erosion resistance, anti-galling, corrosion resistance. Brush Wellman alloys work in harsh environments, eliminate mechanical damage in the field and offer the best performance at the lowest total cost of ownership.
Components made from Brush materials are economical to acquire because of the ease with which they may be obtained or fabricated. Brush alloys are readily available worldwide from both company-owned service centers and independent distributor partners.
Technology, products, service, and value are all available worldwide from Brush Wellman Inc. and its distributors. Contact us for more information!