BS EN ISO 2578:1999

1.1 This International Standard specifies the principles and procedures for evaluating the thermal endurance properties of plastics exposed to elevated temperature for long periods.

1.2 The term thermal endurance is used here to refer to tests made in air, excluding any other influence or stress applied to the test specimens. Thermal endurance properties evaluated in different environments and/or with different stresses applied to the test specimens require different test procedures.

1.3 In this International Standard, the study of the thermal ageing of plastics is based solely on the change in certain properties resulting from a period of exposure to elevated temperature. The properties studied are always measured after the temperature has returned to ambient.

The various properties of plastics change at various rates on thermal ageing. To enable comparisons to be made of the thermal ageing of different plastics, the criteria for judgement depend on the type of property to be studied and its acceptable limiting value.

1.4 In the application of this standard it is assumed that a practically linear relationship exists between the logarithm of the time required to cause the predetermined property change and the reciprocal of the corresponding absolute temperature (Arrhenius Law).

For the plastics tested, no transition, in particular a first-order transition, should occur in the temperature range under study.