When drilling for oil or gas, drilling companies use a component called a bridge plug to isolate certain sections of a well from other areas – like when a driller wants to stop the flow from one area of a well while extracting oil or gas from a different area.
Bridge plugs have several components, including upper and lower slips that anchor the plug, a tapered plug mandrel, and a sealing element set in a casing.
Many of these components are typically made from gray and/or ductile iron castings and are a prime target for Dura-Bar G2 gray or 65-45-12 ductile iron.
The advantages of Dura-Bar are particularly important in the manufacture of bridge plugs designed for use on a temporary basis.
While some plugs are covered with cement to permanently close off a well, others are drilled or milled out when the well operator wants to re-start a flow. These temporary plugs are destroyed in the process, with the broken pieces circulated back to the surface in the drilling fluid.
Because plugs need to be quite strong to stem oil flow, drilling them out can be a relatively long process that results in a lot of costly downtime for a well.
That makes Dura-Bar G2 gray iron ideal for bridge plug applications because it has the required strength to seal a well, but can be drilled out more easily when the time comes.
Several other oil & gas industry applications that can benefit from Dura-Bar's advantages include: charge case and compressor sleeves, couplings for gas lines, end caps, valve seats, gears, oil pump heads and bases, poppet valves, purge pump rotors, retainers, ring carriers, slip cage in sucker rods and valve plates.
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