United States Prevention, Pesticides EPA712-C-96-029
Environmental Protection and Toxic Substances August 1996
Agency (7101)
&EPA Product Properties
Test Guidelines
OPPTS 830.6321
Dielectric Breakdown
Voltage
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INTRODUCTION
This guideline is one of a series of test guidelines that have been
developed by the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances,
United States Environmental Protection Agency for use in the testing of
pesticides and toxic substances, and the development of test data that must
be submitted to the Agency for review under Federal regulations.
The Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (OPPTS)
has developed this guideline through a process of harmonization that
blended the testing guidance and requirements that existed in the Office
of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) and appeared in Title 40,
Chapter I, Subchapter R of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the
Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) which appeared in publications of the
National Technical Information Service (NTIS) and the guidelines pub-
lished by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD).
The purpose of harmonizing these guidelines into a single set of
OPPTS guidelines is to minimize variations among the testing procedures
that must be performed to meet the data requirements of the U. S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency under the Toxic Substances Control Act (15
U.S.C. 2601) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
(7U.S.C. I36,etseq.).
Final Guideline Release: This document is available from the U.S.
Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 on The Federal Bul-
letin Board. By modem dial 202-512-1387, telnet and ftp:
fedbbs.access.gpo.gov (IP 162.140.64.19), internet: http://
fedbbs.access.gpo.gov, or call 202-512-0132 for disks or paper copies.
This guideline is available in ASCII and PDF (portable document format)
from the EPA Public Access Gopher (gopher.epa.gov) under the heading
"Environmental Test Methods and Guidelines."
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OPPTS 830.6321 Dielectric breakdown voltage.
(a) Scope—(1) Applicability. This guideline is intended to meet test-
ing requirements of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act (FIFRA) (7 U.S.C. 136, et seq.).
(2) Background. The source material used in developing this har-
monized OPPTS test guideline is OPP guideline 63-21 Dielectric break-
down voltage (Pesticide Assessment Guidelines, Subdivision D: Product
Chemistry, EPA Report 540/9-82-018, October 1982) and 40 CFR
158.190 Physical and chemical characteristics.
(b) Test method—(1) Objective. The objective of this test is to deter-
mine the potential for hazard when the pesticide product is used on or
in the vicinity of electrical equipment and electrical conduits. The dielec-
tric breakdown voltage of an insulating liquid is of importance as a meas-
ure of the liquid's ability to withstand electric stress without failure. Data
is required when the end-use product is a nonconductant liquid and is to
be used around electrical equipment.
(2) Test details, (i) The Agency recommends the method described
in ASTM D-877, "Standard Test Method for Dielectric Breakdown Volt-
age for Insulating Liquids Using Disk Electrodes" (see paragraph (d) of
this guideline). Other methods may be substituted as appropriate for the
particular properties of the pesticide to be tested. If an alternative method
is used, it is recommended that the registrant consult with the Agency
prior to adopting the test method.
(ii) The test method covers a referee and a routine procedure for de-
termining the dielectric breakdown voltage of insulating liquids.
(iii) Test procedure. (A) The test liquid is poured into a cup with
rigidly mounted brass electrodes connected to an appropriate power source
with automatic circuit-interrupting equipment. Voltage is incrementally in-
creased until the circuit-interrupting equipment is activated and the break-
down voltage is recorded.
(B) For referee testing, one breakdown shall be made on each of five
successive fillings of the cup. If the five values meet the defined criterion
for statistical consistency, their average value will be reported as the break-
down voltage. If the five values do not meet the criterion, one breakdown
on each of five additional cup fillings will be made and the average of
the ten trials will be reported as the breakdown voltage of the sample.
(C) For routine testing, five breakdowns may be made on one cup
filling with 1 min intervals between breakdowns. The average of these
values will be considered the breakdown voltage of the sample if the cri-
terion for statistical consistency is met. If the criterion is not met, the
cup will be refilled with a new sample and five breakdowns will be made
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on the new sample. The average of the ten breakdowns will be considered
as the breakdown voltage.
(D) The applications, apparatus, sampling procedures, and criterion
for statistical consistency are described in the ASTM method (see para-
graph (d) of this guideline).
(c) Reporting. (1) Report the data on dielectric breakdown voltage
by following the instructions in paragraph (d) of this guideline or other
Agency-approved test.
(2) Any methods used to characterize the physical properties of a
pesticide shall be referenced or described in the application for registration.
If the methods used are listed in paragraph (d) of this guideline, reference
to the method will suffice. If other methods are used, copies of such meth-
ods must be submitted with the application.
(3) References that denote "ASTM" refer to standardized methods
published by the American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia,
PA.
(4) The applicant shall submit his own statistical evaluation of the
precision and accuracy of these measurements (e.g., standard deviations
or confidence intervals) when appropriate.
(d) References. The following references should be consulted for ad-
ditional background material on this test guideline.
(1) American Society for Testing and Materials, "Standard Test
Method for Dielectric Breakdown Voltage of Insulating Liquids Using
Disk Electrodes, D-877," ASTM, Philadelphia, PA (latest annual index).
(2) [Reserved]
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