Abstract
Fatigue and fracture are topics of primary importance
to the development of damage tolerant composite
structures and to the certification of composite
products.
This paper reports about extensive laboratory tests that
have been performed on polymer rod insulators aimed
to gain experience on fatigue performance of such
components. Fatigue bending tests have been
performed up to 2 million cycles and typical curves
have been traced to describe the behaviour of the
material.
The results of these tests give indication on life
estimation related to the expected service loads. the
reduction of mechanical strength found after the
ageing and fatigue cycles is a useful parameter for ~he
safe design of insulators exposed to severe service
conditions.
In addition the paper presents the preliminary results
of a new diagnostic experimental methodology based
on IR thermography to detect the defects in the
fiberglass rods of insulators.
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