Abstract
Styrene–isoprene–styrene triblock copolymers (SIS) are representative thermoplastic elastomers possessing both elastomeric and thermoplastic feature. SIS have been used in self-healing cement for natural gas wells, but the mechanism behind the application was not unravelled. We hypothesise such self-repairing function should be associated with the swelling of SIS in natural gas whose main component is methane. It was found that all the four SIS copolymers show similar swelling trend irrespective of their structure difference, and the swelling ratio increases as decreasing the polystyrene block content in SIS. These preliminary pioneering findings show the swelling behaviour of the rubbers displayed quite differently before and after supercritical point, and it is helpful for the further research about the swelling behaviour of rubber in natural gas wells.
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