IEC 60212:2010 gives the accepted conditions of exposure time, temperature, atmospheric humidity and liquid immersion for use in testing solid electrical insulating materials. The range is sufficiently wide to enable suitable conditions to be selected so that either of the primary objects, set out below as a) and b), of conditioning can be achieved. These objectives aim to obtain greater reproducibility of test results by:
a) partly counteracting the variations of the properties of the material due to the past history of the test specimens (often known as "normalizing", here called preconditioning), and
b) ensuring uniformity of conditions during the testing.
This standard is not intended to be applied for determining the influence of exposure to certain temperatures and humidity or immersions in liquids, on the properties of a material. Procedures pertaining to the effect of an environment on a material are given in various parts of IEC 60068. The significant technical changes with respect to the previous edition are as follows:
- the scope and normative references have been updated and terms and definitions completely reviewed;
- technical details in Table 2 have been aligned to today's usage.