Characterization of Swelling Packer EPDM Elastomers

As a reliable wellbore tools, swelling packers have reached their popularity and usability top owing to easy deployment and applicability in HP/HT well conditions. Made of rubbery swelling/sealing element and only few steel parts, packer’s operating simplicity advanced the effi ciency of oilfi eld operations these devices are used in, and that is casing cementation, intelligent well completions, coiled tubing systems, sand control, hydraulic fracturing, horizontal well completions and so on [1]. A typical swelling packer consists of an inner tube, a swelling elastomer and the end rings supporting the swelling elastomer. Sometimes, several layers can be found inside the swelling elastomer body – high swelling intensity core, low swelling intensity core and diff usion barrier (Fig. 1).