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The wicking test focuses on the wire insulation’s propensity for drawing fluids into the wire. This can be a concern particularly for applications in which a wire/cable may be regularly exposed to fluids (e.g. wheel well of an aircraft). This test is not common on most wire types, but is found within the MIL-W-81044 (Polyalkene insulated wire) and Spec 55 (XL-ETFE) style wire insulations and should be considered for new insulating material types to identify problems prior to implementation in any application.
In particular, the wicking test measures how far a dye travels up a vertically mounted wire between the jacket and primary insulation. The pass/fail criteria is specification dependent and is typically less than 0.5inches.
Our Process
Perform visual examination of the specimen. Record any observed defects.
Cut a clean cross section of the specimen.
Place the specimen vertically into a UV dye solution.
After specified time, remove the specimen from the solution.
Measure the travel distance of the dye.
Report the test conditions, dye travel distance, and any observed changes.