6 - Breakdown in Solid and Liquid Dielectric
6 - Breakdown in Solid and Liquid Dielectric
July 2023
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Content
▪ Breakdown in solids
▪ Breakdown in liquids
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Breakdown in Solids
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Section Content
▪ Breakdown in solids
▪ Intrinsic breakdown
▪ Streamer breakdown
▪ Electromechanical breakdown
▪ Thermal breakdown
▪ Erosion breakdown
▪ Tracking
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Breakdown in Solids
• Transport of electricity in gases limited to positive and negative charge carriers
→ Insulation breakdown involves rapid growth of current through formation of electron avalanches
• Transport of electricity in solids involves electronic and ionic carriers, and currents due to slower
polarization processes
→ e.g. slow moving dipoles (orientation polarization) and interfacial polarization
• Electric polarization → slight relative shift of positive and negative electric charge in opposite
directions within an insulator or dielectric, induced by an external electric field
→ Polarization occurs when an electric field distorts negative cloud of
electrons around positive atomic nuclei in a direction opposite the field
→This slight separation of charge makes one side of atom somewhat
positive and opposite side somewhat negative
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Breakdown in Solids
• Electrical methods are unable to distinguish between conduction currents and currents due to polarization
having a longer time constant than duration of a particular experiment
• At low stresses and normal temperatures conduction by free electrons and ions in solids is exceptional
• Conduction in glasses is believed to be of simple electrolytic type at room temperature and above
• Ceramics also develop a significant conductivity at higher temperatures that may be electronic or ionic
• As stress in solids approaches breakdown stress, current is found to increase exponentially, but does not
vary so markedly with time
1) Results from injection of carriers from an electrode or from electron multiplication in bulk of the material
or both
2) Impurities or structural defects may cause local allowed energy levels (traps) in forbidden band, and
electrons may pass through the insulator by jumping from one trap to another (hopping effect)
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Breakdown in Solids
• From electrodes electrons ejected by ‘Schottky’s emission effect’ or ‘field emission effect’ (tunnelling)
• Under normal industrial conditions same solid materials exhibit a wide range of dielectric strength,
depending upon conditions of environment and method of testing
〈 temperature, humidity, duration of test, whether a.c., d.c., or impulse voltage is applied, pressure
applied to electrodes, discharges in ambient medium, discharges in cavities and many other factors 〉
〈〈 Mechanisms of breakdown in solids are understood much less clearly than those in gases 〉〉
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Breakdown in Solids
• Mechanism of failure and breakdown strength
changes with time of voltage application
For pure and homogeneous material, With undervoltage applied for a short time electric
controlled temperature and environmental strength increases up to an upper limit called
conditions, and sample stressed such that 〈〈 intrinsic electric strength 〉〉 〈 intrinsic strength is
there are no external discharges property of material and temperature only 〉
Intrinsic strength assumed to be reached when electrons in insulator gain sufficient energy from applied
field to cross forbidden energy gap from valence to conduction band
▪ Criterion condition formulated by solving an equation for energy balance between gain of energy
by conduction electrons from applied field and its loss to lattice
▪ Several models have been proposed
→ Models differ on mechanisms of energy transfer from conduction electrons to lattice, and also by
assumptions made concerning distribution of conduction electrons
Intrinsic Breakdown
In pure homogeneous dielectric • at room temperature electrons cannot acquire sufficient
materials conduction and valence thermal energy to make transitions from valence to
bands separated by a large energy conduction band
• conductivity in perfect dielectrics should therefore be zero
gap
*Fröhlich’s high energy Breakdown occurs when electric field is sufficiently large that
breakdown criterion (1937) electrons in high energy tail of electron energy distribution, which
〈for a pure homogeneous have sufficient energy to cause impact ionization, gain more energy
dielectric〉
from field than they lose to phonon
*Herbert Fröhlich (1905 –1991), German physicist; worked in the UK since 1935
Intrinsic Breakdown
Fröhlich’s high energy Assumption Step 1 identify parameter 𝛼 with
breakdown criterion (1937) • dielectric is destroyed by an electron energy (We) such that balance
〈for a pure homogeneous infinitely large multiplication of equation is satisfied i.e.
dielectric〉 electrons in conduction band
• For E > Ec electrons gain energy more rapidly from field than they lose to lattice → breakdown will
result
• This mechanism applies to pure solids in which equilibrium is controlled by collisions between
electrons and lattice vibrations
Intrinsic Breakdown
• Fröhlich and Paranjape extended the • Curves A plotted for various values of E;
Fröhlich model for homogeneous materials represents l.h.s. of Eq.
to amorphous materials in which • Curve B represents r.h.s.
• Intersections give possible solutions for various
concentration of conduction (or trapped)
electron temperatures
electrons is high enough to make electron–
electron collisions the dominant factor
• An electron entering conduction band of dielectric at cathode will drift towards anode under
influence of field gaining energy between collisions and losing it on collisions
• For a long enough free path the energy gain exceeds lattice ionization energy and an additional
electron is produced on collision
• Process is repeated and may lead to formation of an electron avalanche similar to gases
• Frederick Seitz suggested that breakdown will ensue if avalanche exceeds a certain critical size
and derived an expression for a single avalanche breakdown strength
Electromechanical Breakdown
Substances which can deform appreciably • Compression forces arise from electrostatic attraction
without fracture may collapse when electrostatic between surface charges which appear when voltage
compression forces on test specimen exceed its is applied
• Pressure exerted when field reaches about 106 V/cm
mechanical compressive strength
may be several kN/m2
dielectric slab
between sphere-
Breakdown of solid specimen plane electrodes
due to ambient discharge-
edge effect Plane electrode
Edge Breakdown and Treeing
• Assuming homogeneous field, consider a cylindrical volume
of cross-section dA between electrodes at distance x
• On applying voltage V between electrodes, a fraction of
voltage, V1, appears across media 1 given by
• When a gaseous dielectric is in series with a solid dielectric stressed between two parallel plate
electrodes, stress in gaseous part will exceed that of solid by ratio of permittivities → E1 = εrE2
• Stress in gaseous part increases further as x decreased → reaches very high values as d1 becomes very
small (point B)
• Consequently the ambient breaks down at a relatively low applied voltage
Edge Breakdown and Treeing
• Charge at tip of discharge further disturb applied local field and transform arrangement to a
highly non-uniform system
• Charge concentration at tip of a discharge channel is sufficient to give a local field of the order of
10 MV/cm, which is higher than intrinsic breakdown field
• A local breakdown at tips of discharge is likely, and complete breakdown is result of many such
breakdown channels formed in solid and extending step by step through the whole thickness
Edge Breakdown and Treeing
• Breakdown event in solids in general is not accomplished
through formation of a single discharge channel, but
assumes a tree-like structure
• In solving it, it is assumed that a critical condition arises and insulation properties are lost, when
at some point in the dielectric temperature exceeds a critical temperature Tc
➢ Solution gives time required to reach Tc for a given field and boundary condition
• The Eq. cannot be solved analytically for the general case → since Cv, K and 𝜎 may be all
functions of T and may also depend upon applied field
➢ Two extreme cases are be considered here for solution of the Eq.
Thermal Breakdown
Case 1
Eq. reduces to
Assume a rapid build-up of heat so that heat lost to surroundings can be
neglected and all heat generated is used in raising temperature of solid
→ leading to ‘impulse thermal breakdown’
• For the case when u >> kT, and Tc > T0 (Tc – critical time)
• Reaching the critical condition requires a combination of critical time (Tc) and critical field (Ec)
• Ec independent of Tc due to fast rise in temperature
Thermal Breakdown
Case 2 Arrangement for testing a dielectric for minimum
This case concerns thermal breakdown voltage
minimum thermal voltage, • A thick dielectric slab that is constrained to
i.e. lowest voltage for ambient temperature at its surfaces by using
thermal breakdown sufficiently large electrodes
Neglecting
i.e.
Cv(dT/dt)
𝜎E = j & E = ∂V/∂x
(j-current density)
Thermal Breakdown
• Under alternating fields losses are much greater than under direct fields
• Consequently thermal breakdown strength generally lower for alternating fields, and decreases with
increasing frequency of supply voltage
Erosion Breakdown
• Practical insulation systems often contain cavities or voids within dielectric material or on
boundaries between solid and electrodes
▪ These cavities are usually filled with a medium (gas or liquid) of lower breakdown
strength than the solid
▪ Hence, under normal working stress of insulation system voltage across cavity may
exceed breakdown value and may initiate breakdown in void
Erosion Breakdown
Figure shows a cross-section of a Electrical discharge in cavity and its equivalent circuit
dielectric of thickness d containing a
cavity in the form of a disc of thickness t
Cc – capacitance of cavity
Cb – capacitance of dielectric which is in
series with Cc
Ca – capacitance of rest of the dielectric
• For t << d, which is usually the case, and assuming that εr – relative permittivity
of dielectric
cavity is filled with gas, field strength across Cc is given by
Erosion Breakdown
Consider a disc-shaped dielectric in solid, discharge
inception voltage applied across dielectric can be
expressed in terms of cavity breakdown stress
• Also channels and pits are formed which elongate through insulation by ‘edge mechanism’
• Additional chemical degradation may result from active discharge products 〈O3 or NO2〉 formed in air
which may cause deterioration
• Net effect 〉〉 slow erosion of material, consequent reduction of breakdown strength of solid insulation
Erosion Breakdown
• Because of imperfect manufacture and/or poor design, dielectric strength (e.g. in cables) decreases
with time of voltage application (or life)
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Section Content
▪ Breakdown in liquids
▪ Electronic breakdown
▪ Cavity breakdown
b) At low fields the conduction is largely ionic due to dissociation of impurities and increases linearly
with field strength
• This conduction saturates at intermediate fields
• At high field, nearing breakdown, conduction increases more rapidly and tends to be unstable
• Increased current due to electron emission at cathode by one or both of the above mechanisms,
and possibly by field aided dissociation of molecules in the liquid
Breakdown in Liquids
• Presence of foreign particles in liquid insulation has a profound effect on breakdown strength of
liquids
➢ Suspended particles are polarizable and are of higher permittivity than liquid → they experience an
electrical force directed towards place of maximum stress
➢ With uniform field electrodes movement of particles initiated by surface irregularities on electrodes,
which give rise to local field gradients
➢ Accumulation of particles continues and tends to form a bridge across gap which leads to initiation of
breakdown
• Impurities can also be gaseous bubbles of lower breakdown strength than liquid
Electronic Breakdown
Both field emission and field- • Most experimental data for current fit well Schottky-type
equation in which current is temperature dependent
enhanced thermionic emission
• Breakdown measurements carried out over a wide range of
mechanisms have been
temperatures show little temperature dependence
considered responsible for
→ cathode process is field emission rather than thermionic
current at cathode emission
• It is possible that return of positive • Once electron is injected into liquid it gains energy from applied
ions and positively charged foreign field
particles to cathode cause local field • Some electrons gain more energy from field than they lose in
collisions with molecules
enhancement and give rise to local
• These electrons are accelerated until they gain sufficient energy
electron emission to ionize molecules on collisions and initiate avalanche
Electronic Breakdown
• Condition for onset of electron avalanche is obtained by E – applied field
𝜆 – electron mean free path
equating gain in energy of an electron over its mean free h𝜐 – quantum of energy lost in
path to that required for ionization of molecule ionizing the molecule
c – an arbitrary constant
• If εparticle > εliq, then presence of particle in uniform field region will cause flux concentration at its
surface
→ Other particles will be attracted into region of higher flux concentration and in time will
become aligned head to tail to form a bridge across gap
• The field in liquid between particles will be enhanced, and if it reaches critical value breakdown
will follow
Suspended Solid Particle Mechanism
• Movement of particles by electrical force is opposed by viscous drag, and since particles are moving
into the region of high stress, diffusion must also be taken into account
• Equating electrical force with drag force (Fe = Fdrag) 𝜐E – velocity of particle towards
region of maximum stress
k – Boltzmann’s constant
• Equating vE with vd gives T – absolute temperature
Breakdown strength dependence in time on concentration of particles N, their radii and liquid viscosity
Cavity Breakdown
• Insulating liquids may contain gaseous inclusions in the form of bubbles
iv. liquid vaporization by corona-type discharges from points and irregularities on electrodes
Cavity Breakdown
• Electric field in a spherical gas bubble which is immersed E0 – field in liquid in
in a liquid of permittivity εliq given by absence of bubble
• When field Eb becomes equal to gaseous ionization field, discharge takes place
which will lead to decomposition of liquid and breakdown may follow