A detailed comparison and review of the available methods fortesting the arcing failure characteristics of wire insulation materialshas been made, and their applicability to the testing of spacecraftwires has been assessed. The available test methods fall into twogeneral classifications, namely, wet and dry tests. These were developedmainly for the testing of aircraft cable for which normal atmosphere andgenerally alternating current were considered. Test equipment has beendesigned to closely simulate the conditions experienced by spacecraftelectrical wiring. It is hoped that the results obtained using thisequipment will allow one to accurately classify wire insulations withrespect to their arc tracking characteristics
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