This technical specification describes the procedure for the evaluation of the thermal endurance of electrical insulating materials, based on thermal analysis methods for the evaluation of the activation energy of the thermal degradation reaction and a conventional life test providing a life point in the thermal endurance graph. The purpose of the test procedure is to estimate the relative temperature index (RTE).
Predictions of thermal endurance based on this procedure are limited to ageing reactions where one single reaction is predominant and directly correlated to the end-point criteria for a specific application.