EN 60212:2011

Standard conditions for use prior to and during the testing of solid electrical insulating materials

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.

Standardbedingungen für die Anwendung vor und während der Prüfung von festen Elektroisolierstoffen

Conditions normales à observer avant et pendant les essais de matériaux isolants électriques solides

La CEI 60212:2010 indique les conditions normales de durée d'exposition, de température, d'humidité atmosphérique et d'immersion dans un liquide à observer pour les essais des matériaux isolants électriques solides. La gamme en est suffisamment étendue pour pouvoir satisfaire aux conditions à déterminer pour atteindre soit l'un soit l'autre des buts premiers du conditionnement (voir a) et b) ci-dessous). Ces objectifs visent à obtenir une reproductibilité plus étendue des résultats d'essai: a) en neutralisant partiellement les différences constatées sur les propriétés du matériau dues aux influences subies antérieurement par les éprouvettes (traitement souvent connu sous le nom 'normalizing' en anglais et appelé ici préconditionnement), et b) en assurant l'uniformité des conditions au cours des essais. La présente norme n'est pas destinée à être appliquée pour déterminer l'influence de l'exposition à un certain nombre de températures, de taux d'humidité ou d'immersions dans des liquides, sur les propriétés d'un matériau. Les modalités concernant les effets d'un environnement sur un matériau sont données dans les différentes parties de la CEI 60068. Les modifications techniques majeures par rapport à l'édition précédente sont énumérées comme suit: - le domaine d'application et les références normatives ont été mises à jour et les termes et définitions complètement revus; - les détails techniques du Tableau 2 ont été alignés sur l'usage qu'il en est fait de nos jours.

Standardni pogoji, ki veljajo pred in med preskušanjem trdnih električnih izolacijskih materialov

Ta mednarodni standard navaja sprejete pogoje za čas izpostavljenosti, temperaturo, atmosfersko vlago in potapljanje v tekočine, ki se uporabljajo pri preskušanju trdnih električnih izolacijskih materialov. Razpon je dovolj širok, da omogoča izbor ustreznih pogojev, tako da se lahko doseže eden od primarnih namenov obdelave, navedenih spodaj pod a) in b). Ti so namenjeni zagotavljanju večje ponovljivosti preskusnih rezultatov z: a) delnim odpravljanjem variacij lastnosti materiala, ki so posledica preteklosti preskušancev (pogosto znanim kot »normalizacija«, tu imenovana predobdelava), in b) zagotavljanjem enotnosti pogojev med preskušanjem. Ta standard ni namenjen uporabi pri določanju vpliva izpostavljenosti določenim temperaturam in vlagi ali potopljenosti v tekočine na lastnosti materiala. Postopki v zvezi z vplivom okolja na material so podani v različnih delih IEC 60068.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 14-Jul-2011
• Withdrawal Date: 18-Jan-2014
• ICS: 17.220.99 - Other standards related to electricity and magnetism
• ICS: 29.035.01 - Insulating materials in general
• Technical Committee: CLC/SR 112 - Evaluation and qualification of electrical insulating materials and systems (to be defined)
• Drafting Committee: IEC/TC 112 - IEC_TC_112
• Current Stage: 6060 - Document made available - Publishing
• Start Date: 15-Jul-2011
• Completion Date: 15-Jul-2011
• Ref Project: SIST EN 60212:2011 - Standard conditions for use prior to and during the testing of solid electrical insulating materials

Relations

• Replaces: HD 437 S1:1984 - Standard conditions for use prior to and during the testing of solid electrical insulating materials
• Effective Date: 28-Jan-2023

Overview

EN 60212:2011 (identical to IEC 60212:2010) defines the accepted, standardized conditions to which specimens of solid electrical insulating materials should be exposed prior to and during laboratory testing. The standard specifies recommended exposure times, temperatures, atmospheric humidity and liquid immersion conditions so that test results are reproducible and comparable. Its two primary objectives are to:

• Precondition (normalize) specimens to reduce variability due to past history, and
• Ensure uniform test conditions during measurement.

EN 60212:2011 is published by CENELEC/CLC and supersedes earlier regional guidance (HD 437 S1:1984). It is not intended for environmental-degradation studies - procedures for determining environmental effects are covered by IEC 60068 series.

Key Topics and Requirements

• Scope and purpose: Gives a wide but defined range of standard atmospheres and liquid immersion conditions suitable for preconditioning, conditioning and testing of solid insulating materials.
• Terms and definitions: Standardizes terminology for specimen, preconditioning, conditioning, chamber, period of conditioning, recovery and test conditions.
• Temperature, humidity and immersion: Recommends combinations of temperature/relative humidity and specific liquid immersion conditions appropriate for routine tests (detailed values are provided in the standard’s tables).
• Periods of conditioning: Provides preferred durations for preconditioning and conditioning to obtain stable, reproducible properties.
• Procedures and chambers: Defines requirements for conditioning chambers, working spaces and tolerances for maintaining prescribed conditions.
• Coding and reporting: Includes a code system (Table 1) to specify the exact preconditioning/conditioning/testing regime and prescribes what to report so results are traceable and comparable.
• Normative references: Cross-references essential standards such as IEC 60068-1 (environmental testing), IEC 60216-4-1 (ageing ovens) and ISO 62 (water absorption).

Applications and Who Uses It

EN 60212:2011 is used by:

• Test laboratories and QA/QC teams to ensure consistent test atmospheres and reproducible measurements.
• Manufacturers and material suppliers for specifying how samples must be prepared and tested.
• R&D engineers and material scientists validating electrical insulation performance.
• Certification and compliance bodies that require standardized preconditioning and testing records.
  Use cases include dielectric strength testing, mechanical and electrical property verification, and material specification clauses that require standardized conditioning.

Related Standards

• IEC 60212:2010 (base international standard)
• IEC 60068 series (environmental testing procedures)
• IEC 60216-4-1 (thermal endurance ovens)
• ISO 62 (plastics - water absorption)

EN 60212:2011 helps ensure test reproducibility and uniform reporting for solid electrical insulating materials by standardizing the environment to which test specimens are exposed.

Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-oktober-2011
6WDQGDUGQLSRJRMLNLYHOMDMRSUHGLQPHGSUHVNXãDQMHPWUGQLKHOHNWULþQLK
L]RODFLMVNLKPDWHULDORY
Standard conditions for use prior to and during the testing of solid electrical insulating
materials
Standardbedingungen für die Anwendung vor und während der Prüfung von festen
Elektroisolierstoffen
Conditions normales à observer avant et pendant les essais de matériaux isolants
électriques solides
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 60212:2011
ICS:
29.035.01 Izolacijski materiali na Insulating materials in
splošno general
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EUROPEAN STANDARD
EN 60212
NORME EUROPÉENNE
July 2011
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
ICS 17.220.99; 29.035.01 Supersedes HD 437 S1:1984

English version
Standard conditions for use prior to and during the testing of solid
electrical insulating materials
(IEC 60212:2010)
Conditions normales à observer avant et Standardbedingungen für die Anwendung
pendant les essais de matériaux isolants vor und während der Prüfung von festen
électriques solides Elektroisolierstoffen
(CEI 60212:2010) (IEC 60212:2010)

This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2011-01-19. CENELEC members are bound to comply
with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard
the status of a national standard without any alteration.

Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on
application to the Central Secretariat or to any CENELEC member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and notified
to the Central Secretariat has the same status as the official versions.

CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,
the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

CENELEC
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung

Management Centre: Avenue Marnix 17, B - 1000 Brussels

© 2011 CENELEC - All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC members.
Ref. No. EN 60212:2011 E
Foreword
The text of document (112/148/CDV), future edition 3 of IEC 60212, prepared by IEC TC 112, Evaluation
and qualification of electrical insulating materials and systems, was submitted to the IEC-CENELEC
parallel vote and was approved by CENELEC as EN 60212 on 2011-01-19.
This European Standard supersedes HD 437 S1:1984.
The significant technical changes with respect to HD 437 S1:1984 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.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CEN and CENELEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights.
The following dates were fixed:
– latest date by which the EN has to be implemented
at national level by publication of an identical
national standard or by endorsement (dop) 2011-10-19
– latest date by which the national standards conflicting
with the EN have to be withdrawn (dow) 2014-01-19
Annex ZA has been added by CENELEC.
__________
Endorsement notice
The text of the International Standard IEC 60212:2010 was approved by CENELEC as a European
Standard without any modification.
__________
- 3 - EN 60212:2011
Annex ZA
(normative)
Normative references to international publications
with their corresponding European publications

The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.

NOTE  When an international publication has been modified by common modifications, indicated by (mod), the relevant EN/HD
applies.
Publication Year Title EN/HD Year

1)
IEC 60068-1 1988 Environmental testing - EN 60068-1 1994
+ corr. October 1988 Part 1: General and guidance
+ A1 1992
IEC 60216-4-1 - Electrical insulating materials - Thermal EN 60216-4-1 -
endurance properties -
Part 4-1: Ageing ovens - Single-chamber
ovens
ISO 62 2008 Plastics - Determination of water absorption EN ISO 62 2008

1)
EN 60068-1 includes A1 to IEC 60068-1 + corr. October .

IEC 60212 ®
Edition 3.0 2010-12
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Standard conditions for use prior to and during the testing of solid electrical
insulating materials
Conditions normales à observer avant et pendant les essais de matériaux
isolants électriques solides
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
PRICE CODE
INTERNATIONALE
M
CODE PRIX
ICS 17.220.99; 29.035.01 ISBN 978-2-88912-292-9
– 2 – 60212 Ó IEC:2010
CONTENTS
FOREW ORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Sc o pe . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Temperature and humidity (or liquid immersion) recommended for preconditioning,
conditioning and testing . 8
5 Period of conditioning . 8
6 Procedures for atmospheric preconditioning, conditioning, and testing . 9
7 Liquid immersion, conditioning and testing . 9
8 Standard reference atmosphere . 10
9 Code for specifying preconditioning, conditioning and testing . 10
10 Report . 10

Table 1 – Codes for preconditioning, conditioning and testing . 10
Table 2 – Standard atmospheric conditions for testing and conditioning . 11
Table 3 – Standard liquid immersion conditions for testing and conditioning . 12
Table 4 – List of preferred periods for preconditioning and conditioning . 12

60212 Ó IEC:2010 – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
STANDARD CONDITIONS FOR USE PRIOR TO AND DURING
THE TESTING OF SOLID ELECTRICAL INSULATING MATERIALS

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 60212 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 112:
Evaluation and qualification of electrical insulating materials and systems.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition published in 1971 and constitutes a
technical revision.
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.

– 4 – 60212 Ó IEC:2010
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
CDV Report on voting
112/148/CDV 112/162/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The committee has decided that the contents of this amendment and the base publication will
remain unchanged until the stability date indicated on the IEC web site under
"http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data related to the specific publication. At this date, the
publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
60212 Ó IEC:2010 – 5 –
INTRODUCTION
Many electrical insulating materials have properties which are affected by the temperature or
humidity, or both, of the atmospheres to which they are subjected. It is usually necessary,
therefore, when testing these materials, to control both temperature and humidity prior to
testing, as well as the conditions in which the specimens are actually tested. The selection of
appropriate conditions and tests should be decided according to the materials specification
and the intended application. Unless otherwise specified, specimens should be conditioned
and measured in the same climate as that in which they are to be tested.
When giving results of tests on electrical insulating materials likely to be affected by those
factors, it is important that the relevant conditions to which the test specimens were exposed
are reported. Specifications for such materials should, therefore, identify the atmospheres to
which the test specimens should be exposed before testing and the conditions under which
the tests are to be made.
– 6 – 60212 Ó IEC:2010
STANDARD CONDITIONS FOR USE PRIOR TO AND DURING
THE TESTING OF SOLID ELECTRICAL INSULATING MATERIALS

1 Scope
This International Standard 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.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.
For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition
of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
IEC 60068-1:1988, Environmental testing – Part 1: General and guidance
Amendment 1 (1992)
IEC 60216-4-1, Electrical insulating materials – Thermal endurance properties – Part 4-1:
Ageing ovens – Single-chamber ovens
ISO 62:2008: Plastics – Determination
...