scholarly journals Variations in the morphology of porosity in the Boom Clay Formation: insights from 2D high resolution BIB-SEM imaging and Mercury injection Porosimetry

2013 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 275-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Hemes ◽  
G. Desbois ◽  
J.L. Urai ◽  
M. De Craen ◽  
M. Honty
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Pore Space ◽  
Pore Throat ◽  
Boom Clay ◽  
Mineral Phases ◽  
Mercury Injection ◽  
Clay Matrix ◽  
Sem Imaging

AbstractBoom Clay is considered as one of the potential host rocks for the disposal of high level and/or long lived radioactive waste in a geological formation in Belgium (Mol study site, Mol-1 borehole) and the Netherlands. The direct characterisation of the pore space is essential to help understand the transport properties of radionuclides in argillaceous materials.This contribution aims to characterise and compare the morphology of the pore space in different Boom Clay samples, representing end-members with regard to mineralogy (i.e. clay content) and grain-size distribution of this formation. Broad ion beam (BIB) cross-sectioning is combined with SEM imaging of porosity and Mercury injection Porosimetry (MIP) to characterise the variability of the pore space in Boom Clay at the nm- to μm-scale within representative 2D areas and to relate microstructural observations to fluid flow properties of the bulk sample material. Segmented pores in 2D BIB surfaces are classified according to the mineralogy, generating representative datasets of up to 100,000 pores per cross-section.Results show total SEM-resolved porosities of 10-20% and different characteristic mineral phase internal pore morphologies and intra-phase porosities.Most of the nano-porosity resides in the clay matrix. In addition, in the silt-rich samples, larger inter-aggregate pores contribute to a major part of the resolved porosity. Pore-size distributions within the clay matrix suggest power-law behaviour of pore areas with exponents between 1.56-1.74. Mercury injection Porosimetry, with access to pore-throat diameters down to 3.6 nm, shows total interconnected porosities between 27-35 Vol.-%, and the observed hysteresis in the MIP intrusion vs. extrusion curves suggests relatively high pore-body to pore-throat ratios in Boom Clay. The difference between BIB-SEM visible and MIP measured porosities is explained by the resolution limit of the BIB-SEM method, as well as the limited size of the BIB-polished cross-section areas analysed. Compilation of the results provides a conceptual model of the pore network in fine- and coarse-grained samples of Boom Clay, where different mineral phases show characteristic internal porosities and pore morphologies and the overall pore space can be modelled based on the distribution of these mineral phases, as well as the grain-size distribution of the samples investigated.

scholarly journals Combining SEM and Mercury Intrusion Capillary Pressure in the characterization of pore-throat distribution in tight sandstone and its modification by diagenesis: A case study in the Yanchang Formation, Ordos Basin, China

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
Wei Wang ◽  
Caili Yu ◽  
Le Zhao ◽  
Shuang Xu ◽  
Lei Gao
Keyword(s):  
Pore Size Distribution ◽  
Pore Size ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Pore Space ◽  
Ordos Basin ◽  
Pore Throat ◽  
Tight Sandstone ◽  
Nano Scale ◽  
Carbonate Cementation ◽  
Pressure Controlled

Determining the characteristics of pore-throat structures, including the space types present and the pore size distribution, is essential for the evaluation of reservoir quality in tight sandstones. In this study, the results of various testing methods, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), pressure-controlled porosimetry (PCP) and rate-controlled porosimetry (RCP), were compared and integrated to characterize the pore size distribution and the effects of diagenesis upon it in tight sandstones from the Ordos Basin, China. The results showed that reservoir spaces in tight sandstones can be classified into those with three types of origins (compaction, dissolution, and clay-related) and that the sizes and shapes of pore space differ depending on origin. Considering the data obtained by mercury injection porosimetry and the overestimation of pore radii by pressure-controlled porosimetry, the full-range pore size distribution of tight sandstones can be determined by combining data from PCP with corrected RCP data. The pore-throat radii in tight sandstone vary from 36 nm to 200 μm, and the distribution curve is characterized by three peaks. The right peak remains similar across the sample set and corresponds to residual intergranular pores and dissolution pores. The middle and left peaks show variation between samples due to the heterogeneity and complexity of nano-scale throat bodies. The average micro-scale pore content is 33.49%, and nano-scale throats make up 66.54%. The nano-scale throat spaces thus dominate the reservoir space of the tight sandstones. Compaction, dissolution, carbonate cementation, and clay cementation have various effects on pore-throats. Compaction and carbonate cementation decrease pore body content. Pore-bridging clay cementation decreases throat space content. As pore-lining clay cementation preserves pore space.

scholarly journals Statistical Research of Stainless Austenitic Steel Grain Size Distribution after Screw Rolling

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 5048
Author(s):  
Mikhail Mikhailovich Skripalenko ◽  
Tatyana Viktorovna Zavyalova ◽  
Zbigniew Pater ◽  
Boris Alekseevich Romantsev ◽  
Stanislav Olegovich Rogachev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Stainless Steel ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Grain Size Distribution ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Screw Rolling ◽  
Statistical Research ◽  
Strong Negative Correlation ◽  
Billet Cross Section ◽  
Stainless Austenitic Steel

Screw rolling of austenitic stainless-steel billets was conducted in two- and three-high mills. Statistical research results showed that, compared to heated but not rolled conditions, both screw rolling techniques provided a decrease of grain size, variance, grain size distribution asymmetry, and excess in the billet cross-section at the stationary stage of screw rolling. At that stage, grain size distribution after two-high screw rolling is closer to normal in terms of asymmetry and excess values compared to grain-size distribution after three-high screw rolling. A strong negative correlation between strain effective values and grain-size values for the cross-section of the rolled billets at the stationary stage was revealed for both two- and three-high screw rolling.

scholarly journals An improved method to characterize the pore-throat structures in tight sandstone reservoirs: Combined high-pressure and rate-controlled mercury injection techniques

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 2389-2412
Author(s):  
Wenkai Zhang ◽  
Zejin Shi ◽  
Yaming Tian
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Pore Throat ◽  
Tight Sandstone ◽  
Throat Radius ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Mercury Injection ◽  
Rate Controlled ◽  
Sandstone Reservoirs

The pore-throat size determines the oil and gas occurrence and storage properties of sandstones and is a vital parameter to evaluate reservoir quality. Casting thin sections, field emission scanning electron microscopy, high-pressure mercury injection and rate-controlled mercury injection are used to qualitatively and quantitatively investigate the pore-throat structure characteristics of tight sandstone reservoirs of Xiaoheba Formation in the southeastern Sichuan Basin. The results show that the pore types include intergranular pores, intragranular dissolved pores, matrix pores, intercrystalline pores in clay minerals, and microfractures, and the pore-throat sizes range from the nanoscale to the microscale. The high-pressure mercury injection testing indicates that the pore-throat radius is in range of 0.004–11.017 µm, and the pore-throats with a radius >1 µm account for less than 15%. The rate-controlled mercury injection technique reveals that the tight sandstones with different physical properties have a similar pore size distribution (80–220 µm), but the throat radius and pore throat radius ratio distribution curves exhibit remarkable differences separately. The combination of the high-pressure mercury injection and rate-controlled mercury injection testing used in this work effectively reveals the total pore-throat size distribution in the Xiaoheba sandstones (0.004–260 µm). Moreover, the radius of the pore and the throat is respectively in range of 50–260 µm and 0.004–50 µm. The permeability of the tight sandstones is mostly affected by the small fraction (<40%) of relatively wide pore-throats. For the tight sandstones with good permeability (>0.1 mD), the larger micropores and mesopores exert a great influence on the permeability. In contrast, the permeability is mainly influenced by the larger nanopores. Furthermore, the proportion of narrow pore-throats in tight sandstones increases with reducing permeability. Although the large number of narrow pore-throat (<100 nm) makes a certain contribution to both reservoir porosity and permeability, they have contribution to the former is far more than to the latter.

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