Failures of resin-coated proppants have been primarily attributed to incompatibility between fluid chemistry and the resin, insufficient closure stress, the practice of flowing the well back too aggressively, or stress cycling. This paper describes the failure mechanism that may be more predominant than any of the others: curing too fast. Proppant consolidation kinetics were studied with the use of differential scanning calorimetry and compressive-strength development. Additional studies to determine ultimate compressive-strength development and the effects of flow erosion and stress cycling on resin-coated proppants were performed. This study has determined that the temperature profile and time before proppant grains are compacted and closure stress during curing are critical factors affecting consolidation properties. The investigation also resulted in the identification of the appropriate resin-coated proppants and guidelines for their uses in proppant flowback control in hard-rock fracturing and in sand control of soft formations as in screenless fracpack completions.
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