Aminated nano-silica reinforced slickwater fracturing fluids with enhanced drag reduction, proppant transport and thermal stability

Abstract

Conventional slickwater fracturing fluids undergo severe thermal degradation in hightemperature reservoirs, significantly impairing their drag reduction efficiency and proppant transport capability. To address this limitation, this study presents a novel temperatureresistant slickwater system by incorporating aminated nano-silica with an acrylamide-2acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid copolymer and a flowback aid/clay stabilizer. Macroscopic experiments and molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the system achieves a drag reduction rate of 69.7% at 150 ◦C, a 10-percentage-point improvement over the non-reinforced system. It also reduces the proppant settling area by 21.2%, facilitating more uniform proppant distribution toward the fracture distal end, and retains 77.8% of its initial viscosity after thermal aging. Nanoparticles in the system exhibit a synergistic dualreinforcement mechanism: Their surface adsorption smooths wall roughness and thickens the elastic boundary layer, suppressing turbulence and mitigating energy dissipation; hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions between the amino groups of nanoparticles and the moieties of copolymer form an interfacial network, effectively restricting the segmental mobility of the copolymer. This method increases the glass transition temperature of the system by 57.5 ◦C, markedly enhancing its thermal stability. Molecular simulations confirm an 18.7% increase in hydrogen bond density and a 23.5% reduction in segmental mobility, collectively stabilizing the polymer against thermal degradation. This study provides valuable insights for developing high-performance fracturing fluids suitable for deep reservoirs. Document Type: Original article Cited as: Ding, F., Dai, C., You, Q., Yu, W., Sun, W., Song, X. Aminated nano-silica reinforced slickwater fracturing fluids with enhanced drag reduction, proppant transport and thermal stability. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2025, 18(2): 153-164. https://doi.org/10.46690/ager.2025.11.05