Complex diagnostics of insulating materials in industrial electrostatics

The possible use of insulating materials is basically determined by their electrical properties (i.e. resistivity, dielectric strength) in many new technologies in several branches of the industry. The application of these materials is strongly determined by the physical and chemical properties resulting from the material structure. During lifetime many chemical processes start up in the material (e.g. decreasing of the content of the additives, breaking of polymeric chains) and the molecular structure of material is altered. The changes are reflected in the physical properties and it can dramatically decrease the applicability of the insulating materials. According to the complexity of the materials and the complexity of the stresses the changing of material properties can only be precisely investigated by complex diagnostic measurements. The use of complex investigation (parallel electrical, chemical, mechanical examinations) of insulating materials is introduced in the paper. Based upon the complex insulation diagnostics and the resulted database of different insulating materials to be applied in industrial electrostatics the possible use of complex non-destructive insulation diagnostics is drawn for practical purposes