Standards

Impregnation Standards

The MIL Standard

At the time of writing, the only established standard is one established by the US Military. The text of the standard is reproduced in this section, but we are aware that it has shortcomings. Some of these are discussed in the Review page in this section.

The MIL Standard's Demise

The authority responsible for maintaining the MIL Standard has informed us that they will not be updating it because there is no budget for such an action.

The Proposed Replacement

The IoIT Proposes a new standard, based on the use of certified test rings, a recommended test procedure and a standard test environment.

An overview of the process is described in the Get The Best section. There are test worksheets to record the results and to help establish whether the impregnant and process used are up to standard.

To establish the effectiveness of an impregnation process, it is necessary to confirm the suitability of the process and the impregnant. To this end, we can:

  1. Impregnate a standard test ring in the normal production impregnation process to test the effectiveness of both the impregnant and the process.
  2. Impregnate a standard test ring in a standard impregnation process to test the effectiveness of the impregnant alone.
  3. Test the impregnant's stability and consistency in laboratory conditions to test the suitability of the impregnant.

By examining the results of these three tests, it is possible not only to certify that the impregnant and/or process are up to standard, but also to identify any deficiencies so that they can be corrected.

There are IoIT suggestions for updating the MIL Standard which, combined with the testing approach described above, will provide a consistent, objective standard. These suggested amendments are listed in the Review page in this section.