Destructive testing
Why is trying to break downhole tools so exhilarating? We're tool nerds that's why!
In this video we we're trying to get a permanent bridge plug to set or fail with out the action of the setting tool. We wanted the tool to be travelling at a high speed and then stop abruptly acting like a hammer. We found that the bridge plug was robust enough to with stand the violent actions. Darn, nothing got wrecked!
Before
We set up these 50 ton rams to pull apart different type of materials, designs, and hardening techniques. We would try an predict the failure point by knowing the cross section of the steel and its mechanical properties. In this video we were testing the strengths of our dimple coil connector and to see how much force it took to take them beyond its yield strength. Watch the hydraulic hoses stiffen up and hear the sound of the pump. You know it was putting out!!
After
This picture here is the result of the "before" video. Once we learned how much force it took to pop out the dimples we started playing with hardening technics on different grades of steel. We used 4140 and 52100 steel, Used gas or liquid nitride treating. We were designing them for the most wear resistant coil connector to sand slurries. We found out some amazing things such as heat treating in certain areas to make some places hard and the rest less brittle. On our one 52100 coil connector with the rockwell "c" hardness of 50 HRC. We experienced almost no wear from an extreme amount of sand but we found while MPI'ing a hairline crack form around one of the dimples. So we gave it a proper send off and pulled almost 100,000 pounds to break it in half. Cool stuff!!!