IMRE’s Capabilities and Potential Contribution to the Marine and Offshore Industry

LEONG Yew Wei

IMRE’s Current Involvement & Interests in Marine and Offshore Projects

1) Materials  Innova0on  for  Marine  &  Offshore  Applica0ons  (MIMO)  Program    

2)  Innova0ve  Marine  An0fouling  Solu0ons  for  High  Value  Applica0ons  (IMAS)  

3)  Ultrasonic  sensors  and  transducers  from  advanced  piezoelectric  materials  for  underwater  applica0ons        

High Performance Protective Coating for Risers

The structure of a typical flexible riser

Background: the need for corrosion protection of risers has provided a great challenge for today’s coating industry.

Requirements of riser coating: a low volatile organic compound content, cost-effectiveness, high performance, etc.

Objectives: This project aims to develop natural or synthetic layered silicates/clay, and hollow spheres-filled elastomeric polyurethane composites. These composites are anticipated to show improved water-impermeable and impact properties.

Approaches: (1) Clay-modified polyurethane coating and (2) Hollow spheres-filled polyurethane coating

Benefits:  Significant reduction of water uptake for riser coatings  Longer service life of risers  Cost-effective coating for risers

Principal Investigator: Xu Jian Wei Co-Investigator: Liu Ye

Epoxy/Clay and Silica Nanocomposites and their Applications to GFRP/CFRP for Composite Risers

Principal Investigator: He Chao Bin Co-Investigator: Chua Yang Choo

Advantages     Lower  cost  due  to  small  amount  of  organic  modifiers     Good  dispersion  of  clay     Simultaneous  improvement  in  modulus  and  toughness  

Conven0onal  Approach  

IMRE’s  Approach  

Epoxy/Clay  Nanocomposites  

“Slurry  Compounding”  Approach  

“Solvent-­‐Free  One-­‐Pot  Synthesis”  

60-­‐75  nm  

Epoxy/Silica  Nanocomposites  

1.  Epoxy  2.  Hardener  3.  TEOS  4.  Silane  (APTMS)    5.  NH3  solu0on  

1  hr,  50oC  

FabricaGon  of  CFRP  

Objectives To develop new epoxy/clay and epoxy/silica nanocomposites that can be incorporated to glass fiber and carbon fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP/CFRP) for composite risers.

PP/Nylon-Clay-Glass Fiber Ternary Composites and its Application in Flexible Composite Risers

Principal Investigator: Leong Yew Wei Co-Investigator: Li Xu

Objectives: To develop lightweight thermoplastic ternary composites that possess better barrier properties and fatigue resistance in order to provide fluid integrity to flexible risers.

Requirements for thermoplastic sheath: -  Lightweight -  Good barrier to water, gas and corrosive

chemicals -  High resistance to abrasion -  Ability to withstand static as well as dynamic

loads under high temperatures

Approaches: (1) Blending of Nylon11 with glass fiber reinforced PP via reactive compounding in order to reduce density while improving hydrolytic stability. (2) Incorporation of clay to improve barrier properties and toughness of composites. Benefits: •  Much lower weight, reducing top tension •  Higher barrier properties due to more complicated

tortuous path, reduced corrosion to other metallic parts and good blistering resistance

•  Superior fatigue performance •  High abrasive resistance

Clay sheets

Glass fiber

Tortuous path

Lightweight, Corrosion Resistant Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRPs)

Requirements Materials with low weight, high corrosion resistance and stiffness

Our R&D Lightweight CFRPs with great mechanical properties and high thermal stability fabricated through the lamination of high performance, low viscosity and low-cost nanocomposite matrices onto carbon fiber layers

Distinct Advantages   Great adhesive bonding inside material   Homogeneous dispersion of matrices in carbon fiber fabric   High strength and Low weight   Good corrosive resistance

Key Properties of IMRE’s CFRPs   High thermal stability Tg ~ 170-210 ° C, Td ~ 380-415°C   Good mechanical properties (compared with neat epoxy CFRP) 10-25% improvements on flexural and tensile modulus 30% improvement on interlaminar fracture toughness

Rough surface represented high toughness material is shown in IMRE’s CFRP (a), while smooth surface of brittle matrix with low resistance to crack propagation is obtained from neat epoxy CFRP (b).

Approach: Quantify bio-response of marine organisms & their molecular-level interactions with surfaces

Strategy: Biomimetic surfaces Surface topological patterning Surface chemistry Surface mechanical performance

IMAS Innovative Marine Antifouling Solutions for High Value Applications

Polymer Synthesis: controlled polymerization synthesis of polymeric brushes

Patterning hot embossing polymer casting

Marine organisms: exploration/settlement of barnacles, tubeworms and other foulers

AFM protein investigations: profilometry of deposited footprint protein adhesion force of single protein molecule

Marine  Biofouling  

…is  the  undesirable  accumula0on  of  microorganisms,  plants,  and  animals  on  the  surface  of  ar0ficial  structures  immersed  in  seawater.    

Marine  biofouling  incurs  economical  costs  for  all  mari0me  industries,  resul0ng  in  increased  fuel  costs  and  mechanical  damage.    It  is  also  a  vector  in  the  prolifera0on  of  invasive  species  in  marine  ecosystems.  

Given  the  rapid  growth  of  shipping,  the  marine  offshore  and  hydroenergy  industries,  there  is  a  pressing  need  for  efficient  and  environmentally  friendly  an0fouling  solu0ons.  

Barnacles Tubeworms Mussels

Biomimicking  surface  topologies  

A. J. Scardino, R. Nys, Biofouling 2011 27, 1, 73–86 © 2011 Taylor& Francis.

Sharklet TechnologiesTM

a Pilot whale (Baum et al. 2002) b, c Sea stars (Guenther and de Nys 2007), d Galapagos shark (Bechert et al. 2000) e Yellowfin leatherjacket (Wang et al. 2009) f, g Crab carapace (Bers and Wahl 2004).

Program manager at IMRE: Dominik JANCZEWSKI (janczewskid@imre.a-star.edu.sg)

Underwater Telephone

Intercept A.F.T

Towed Array

Flank Array & Horizontal Direct Passive Ranging Array

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Echo Sounder

Mine Avoidance

Array

Bow Array

H. F. Navigation Array

Intercept Forward

U. H. F. Intercept Array

Pressure  sensor  

Flooded  member  detec0on  

 Structural  health  

monitoring  

Pipeline  /well  leakage  detec0on  

Energy  harves0ng/Fric0on  damper  Piezoelectric  

materials  /devices  

Under-­‐water  sonar  

Structural health monitoring of oil rigs (Smart Mat. Struct. 2007)

Pipe corrosion evaluation (Physical Acoustics)

Gas leakage detection (Groveley)

Sonar for submarine applications