Evaluation of Pressure Effect on Accelerated Aging Tests of Polymer-Insulated Aircraft Wires

Most current international standards for qualifying polymer-insulated wires for aircraft applications rely on degradation tests conducted under standard pressure conditions. However, some wires are used in unpressurized areas and therefore need to withstand low-pressure conditions. In the technical literature, there is a shortage of data on this topic. This article focuses on accelerated wet arc tracking tests of insulated wires and evaluates three methods that assess the performance of surface discharges generated during degradation, based on the light emitted, under different pressure conditions in the range of 100 kPa–16 kPa. The experimental results presented in this paper show that the sensitivity of the proposed methods increases with atmospheric pressure, allowing a better quantification of the degradation effects at higher pressures. These results can also help to gain experience and understanding in how commercial optoelectronic sensors can be used to assess the insulation condition by analyzing the light generated by the surface discharges.