As subsea wells are being drilled in over 5000 feet water depth hydrate formation in the production systems has become a major concern. In subsea trees and production equipment hydrates (ice precipitation) can occur in the event of an interruption in flow caused by a temporary well shut down. During a shut down hot produced fluids become stagnant and are cooled by the surrounding cold water. In long subsea tie backs thermal insulation is required to keep the produced fluids above hydrate formations temperatures until they reach the processing location. Hydrates can form as high as 70 °F (21 °C) under subsea production conditions. Thermal insulation is used to extend cool down time and prevent hydrate formation until the production flow hydrate inhibitor injection can be restored or fluids reach their processing location (platform etc.).Subsea thermal insulation materials are usually composed of polymeric materials that can be cast or molded on to piping and complex shapes such as subsea trees and manifolds. These materials typically consist of a polymeric resin matrix and hollow glass beads that form a syntactic foam material. Polymer bases can be thermoset materials such as silicone elastomers urethanes or epoxies. Thermoplastic materials are also used particularly for long subsea tie backs such as flow lines. Application defects such as thermal cracking during curing voids and lack of bonding in field joints can effect the long term performance of the insulation by reducing thermal resistance due to water ingress and cold spotsA non-destructive evaluation technique used for dielectric materials can be used to detect cracking voids and other defects in the installed insulation systems that may cause a degradation in performance. This technique was developed in the early 1990s for use on fiberglass reinforced piping and rubber expansion joints. The use of this technique on subsea thermal insulation installed on piping and other subsea equipment will be presented. Evaluations will include soundness of field joint bonding in polypropylene and polyurethanes cracking and disbondment in epoxy syntactic insulation and detection of voids and laps in cast glass syntactic polyurethane (GPSU).