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Dielectric Strength

Dielectric strength refers to the maximum electric field a material can withstand before breaking down electrically. It depends on factors like the material's purity, thickness, temperature, and humidity. Dielectric strength is measured by applying increasing voltage between electrodes on a material sample until electrical breakdown occurs, then dividing the breakdown voltage by the sample's thickness. Common plastics have dielectric strengths ranging from 10-30kV/mm.

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378 views2 pages

Dielectric Strength

Dielectric strength refers to the maximum electric field a material can withstand before breaking down electrically. It depends on factors like the material's purity, thickness, temperature, and humidity. Dielectric strength is measured by applying increasing voltage between electrodes on a material sample until electrical breakdown occurs, then dividing the breakdown voltage by the sample's thickness. Common plastics have dielectric strengths ranging from 10-30kV/mm.

Uploaded by

Akshaye Vaid
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Dielectric strength

From Wikipedia

In physics, the term dielectric strength has the following meanings:

 Of a pure insulating material, the maximum electric field that the material can withstand under
ideal conditions without breaking down (i.e. without failure of its insulating properties).
 For a specific configuration of dielectric material and electrodes, the minimum applied electric
field (i.e. the applied voltage divided by electrode separation distance) that results in breakdown.
This is the concept of breakdown voltage.

The theoretical dielectric strength of a material is an intrinsic property of the bulk material, and is
independent of the configuration of the material or the electrodes with which the field is applied. This
"intrinsic dielectric strength" corresponds to what would be measured using pure materials under ideal
laboratory conditions. At breakdown, the electric field frees bound electrons. If the applied electric field is
sufficiently high, free electrons from background radiation may be accelerated to velocities that can
liberate additional electrons by collisions with neutral atoms or molecules, in a process known as
avalanche breakdown. Breakdown occurs quite abruptly (typically in nanoseconds), resulting in the
formation of an electrically conductive path and a disruptive discharge through the material. In a solid
material, a breakdown event severely degrades, or even destroys, its insulating capability.

Factors affecting apparent dielectric strength

 It decreases with increased sample thickness.


 It decreases with increased operating temperature.
 It decreases with increased frequency.
 For gases (e.g. nitrogen, sulfur hexafluoride) it normally decreases with increased
humidity.[2][citation needed]
 For air, dielectric strength increases slightly as the absolute humidity increases but decreases with
an increase in relative humidity

Breakdown field strength

The field strength at which breakdown occurs depends on the respective geometries of the dielectric
(insulator) and the electrodes with which the electric field is applied, as well as the rate of increase of the
applied electric field. Because dielectric materials usually contain minute defects, the practical dielectric
strength will be a significantly less than the intrinsic dielectric strength of an ideal, defect-free, material.

Since the dielectric strength of gases varies depending on the shape and configuration of the electrodes, it
is usually measured as a fraction of the dielectric strength of nitrogen gas.

Units

In SI, the unit of dielectric strength is volts per meter (V/m). It is also common to see related units such as
volts per centimeter (V/cm), megavolts per meter (MV/m), and so on.
In United States customary units, dielectric strength is often specified in volts per mil (a mil is 1/1000
inch). The conversion is:

From www.elandcables.com

The dielectric strength of a material is a measure of the electrical strength of an insulator. It is defined as
the maximum voltage required to produce a dielectric breakdown through the material and is expressed in
terms of Volts per unit thickness. The higher the dielectric strength of a material the better an electrical
insulator it makes.

IEC 60243 is a standard referred to for a method of testing dielectric strength of a material. The test is
conducted in either air or oil and involves placing the test material between two electrodes and increasing
the voltage between the electrodes until an electrical burn-through punctures the sample or decomposition
occurs. Usually the specimen is between 0.8 and 3.2mm thick. Samples which are over 2mm in thickness
are usually tested in oil to prevent flash over before breakdown.

The dielectric strength is then calculated by dividing the breakdown voltage by the thickness of the
sample.

Most plastics have good dielectric strengths in the order of 10 to 30kV/mm.

Examples:

 Low Density Polyethylene LDPE = 27kV/mm


 Polypropylene PP = 22kV/mm
 Polyvinylchloride PVC = 14kV/mm

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