  This study covers a thorough statistical investigation of the evolution of
interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) with and without sheaths, through
a broad heliocentric distance and temporal range. The analysis treats the
sheath and magnetic obstacle (MO) separately to gain more insight about their
physical properties. In detail, we aim to unravel different characteristics of
these structures occurring over the inner and outer heliosphere. The method is
based on a large statistical sample of ICMEs probed over different distances in
the heliosphere. For this, information about detection times for sheath and MO
from 13 individual ICME catalogs were collected and cross-checked. The time
information was then combined into a main catalog used as basis for the
statistical investigation. The data analysis based on that covers a wealth of
spacecraft missions enabling in-situ solar wind measurements from 1975--2022.
This allows to study differences between solar cycles. All the structures under
study (sheath, MO with and without sheath) show the biggest increase in size
together with the largest decrease in density at a distance 0.75 AU. At 1 AU we
find different sizes for MOs with and without sheath, with the former being
larger. Up to 1 AU, the upstream solar wind shows the strongest pile-up close
to the interface with the sheath. For larger distances the pile-up region seems
to shift and recedes from that interface further into the upstream solar wind.
This might refer to a change in the sheath formation mechanism (driven versus
non-driven) with heliocentric distance, suggesting the relevance of the CME
propagation and expansion behavior in the outer heliosphere. Comparison to
previous studies shows inconsistencies over the solar cycle, which makes more
detailed studies necessary to fully understand the evolution of ICME
structures.
