Materials
Sizing Up Fiber Sizings
What glass fiber users need to know about sizings, and how new sizing developments are enhancing the performance of glass-reinforced composites.
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Low-cost carbon fiber: Real or just wishful thinking?
In a wide variety of applications, from easy-to-install bridges to ultra-lightweight, fuel-efficient vehicles, there has been great excitement in recent years about the potential for using carbon fiber-reinforced composites.
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Getting To The Core Of Composite Laminates
A wealth of low-cost core solutions are available for high-performance sandwich structures.
Read MoreNew-Generation Composite Buoyancy Elements Key For Deep Drilling And Production
Principal suppliers of riser buoyancy products include major producer Balmoral (Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K. and Houston, Texas, U.S.A.) and CRP Group Ltd. (Skelmersdale, Lancashire, England, U.K.), which also owns Emerson & Cuming (Canton, Mass., U.S.A.). Balmoral customizes epoxy resins, which are used to cr
Read MoreComposite Drilling Risers Many Years In The Making
The development of rigid composite riser systems has a history that spans two decades. Beginning in 1979, Aerospatiale and the Institut Français du Pétrole (IFP) developed a 15,000 psi, 4 inch composite tubular. Although this project started out as a feasibility study, by the mid-1980s it had led to the manufa
Read MoreDesign Issues with Repair
The ability to repair in place, rather than replace, critical platform equipment systems like topside piping, flowlines and structural components is an attractive option for a platform operator. Composite piping is easily repairable using the same basic methods as the initial installation, says Kevin Schmit, m
Read MoreOther Types Of Repairs Possible With Composites
Since 1995, DML Composites (Plymouth, U.K.) has been one of the pioneers in the use of customized wet layup repairs for offshore pipework and other platform component repairs. A project completed by DML in 2000 involved the in-service repair of a steel caisson on a platform in the North Sea. A caisson is a lar
Read MoreSemisubmersibles Lighten The Load
Transocean Sedco Forex (Houston, Texas, U.S.A.) is working on a new design for its ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rig, the Sedco Express. A major offshore contractor specializing in deepwater drilling, Transocean has 166 MODUs and inland drilling barges in operation around the world. Semisubmersibles are mobi
Read MoreChanging The Paradigm
In Gibson’s opinion, large composite structures will be proven onshore, in civil infrastructure. “What will happen is that large pultruded parts and those made with other means will become commonplace,” he maintains, “and then the technology will migrate to other areas, including offshore oil.” Dr. Char
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