The main purpose of this activity is to examine the long term properties of insulating materials and to identify ageing mechanisms that the subsea conditions may induce. Several materials used in this project are manufactured in-house with a high degree of reproducibility, e.g. the same crystallinity and low densities and size of impurities.

Different high-quality test objects are produced, including Rogowski test samples, disc-shaped samples, rectangular plates, dog-bones and miniature cables. The different objects are used for electrical and mechanical characterization, diffusion measurements and ageing. Ageing is studied with both pressure and temperature cycling.

In some components the insulation system is a combination of solids and fluids, introducing more complex ageing mechanisms. In such cases there is always a question of compatibility as fluids likely can diffuse into the solids, but also volatiles in the solids can diffuse into the liquid.