Preliminary results of research on ageing of composite traction insulators

Research on ageing of composite tension railway traction insulators has been started recently. Insulators have been prepared in two length versions of insulating parts - 24 cm and 50 cm. Some of them have been exposed to coastal climate influence in Świnoujście and Dźwirzyno. The other part of insulators was used for laboratory ageing tests using salt fog chamber, specified voltage and special measuring equipment for detection and recording of leakage currents. At the beginning proper level of voltage and salt concentration was found, to achieve the best conditions for ageing this type of insulators. These parameters should be set in such a way to provide as intensive ageing as possible, but still allowing to control of the process and measure the current values.