BREAKDOWN IN SOLIDS

1
 Breakdown in Solids

 Solid dielectric materials are mainly used to insulate conductors

from one another

 In addition to provide mechanical support for conducting parts.

 Solid dielectrics have higher dielectric breakdown strength compared

to liquids and gases.

 A good dielectric should have low dielectric loss, high mechanical

strength, should be free from gaseous inclusions and moisture, and be
resistant to thermal and chemical deterioration.

2
 Breakdown in Solids
 In gases, conduction is limited to positive and negative charge carriers,
and its rapid growth is due to formation of electron avalanches.

 In solids however, conduction is not only due to charge carriers but

includes currents due to polarization processes (slow process) such as:
 Slow moving dipoles (orientation polarization)
 Interfacial polarization

 Thus, breakdown mechanism is much more complex.

 The fundamental mechanisms of breakdown in solids are less clear

compared to those in gases.

 Although numerous investigations have been done to explain

quantitatively the breakdown processes / theories in solids but the state
of knowledge in this area is still inconclusive.
3
 Breakdown in Solids
 However, several distinct breakdown mechanisms have been identified
and treated theoretically in a qualitative manner.

 The failure mechanism and breakdown strength changes with the time
of voltage application.

Figure: Mechanism of failure and variation of breakdown strength in solids with time of 4
stressing
 Breakdown in Solids
 Various breakdown mechanisms in solid dielectrics:

5
 Intrinsic breakdown
 Intrinsic breakdown is very rare to happen.

 It is associated with breakdown process when these conditions are

fulfilled:
 the material under test needs to be pure and homogeneous
 temperature and environmental conditions are carefully controlled
 sample is stressed without other external discharges
 voltages are applied (increase) for a very short duration of the order
of 10-8 s and breakdown occurs within this period of time.

 In other words, intrinsic breakdown can be obtained under the best

experimental conditions when all unnecessary influences have been
isolated and the breakdown voltage depends only on the structure of the
material and temperature.

6
 Intrinsic breakdown
 The dielectric strength when intrinsic breakdown occurs is called intrinsic
electric strength.

 The stress required for intrinsic breakdown is in the order of several

MV/cm

 This type of breakdown is electronic in nature.

 It depends upon the presence of free electrons. These electrons gain

sufficient energy from the applied field to migrate through the lattice of
the dielectric.

 This energy is explained based on valence and conduction band.

7
 Intrinsic breakdown
 In pure dielectric materials, conduction and valence bands are separated
by large energy gap.

 At room temperature, the electrons cannot acquire sufficient thermal

energy to cross the gap.

8
 Intrinsic breakdown
 In practice, materials contain imperfections in their structures due to
missing atoms and impurities that may act as traps for free electrons.

 When an electric field is applied, these trapped electrons gain sufficient

energy to move into the conduction band.

 As the applied field increases, more and more trapped electrons are freed
and therefore conduction increases.

 Moving electrons will collide with solid molecules to cause ionization to

some extent.

 As more and more moving electrons are produced, electron avalanche

occurs (similar to gases) and this will eventually lead to complete
breakdown.
9
Intrinsic breakdown

10
Intrinsic breakdown

11
 Electromechanical breakdown

 When solid dielectrics are subjected to high electric fields, failure can
occur when the electrostatic compressive forces on the test specimen
exceed its mechanical compressive strength.

 The compression forces arise from the electrostatic attraction between

charges on the solid surface that appear when voltage is applied.

 The pressure applied on the solid dielectric when the field reaches about
MV/cm may be several kN/m2.

12
 Electromechanical breakdown
 If d0 is the initial thickness of specimen material of Young’s modulus Y,
and is compressed to a thickness d under applied voltage V, then
 the electrically developed compressive stress is in equilibrium with

the mechanical compressive strength if:

What is Young’s modulus?

•Also called as tensile / elastic
modulus
•A measure of the stiffness /
Electrical Mechanical
compression compression rigidity of an elastic material

13
 Electromechanical breakdown

Where,
• ε0 is absolute permittivity or vacuum permittivity (8.854187 x
10−12 F/m)
• εr is the relative permittivity of the material

Rearranging the equation gives:

 Usually, mechanical instability occurs when d/d0 = 0.6 or d0/d = 1.67

14
 Electromechanical breakdown
 Hence, the highest apparent strength, Emax before breakdown is:

 The equation however, ignores the possibility of plastic deformation

when the material is subjected to high electrical stresses

15
 Thermal Breakdown
 Conduction current due to the application of high field across a solid
dielectric can continuously generate heat within the dielectric and the
temperature rise.

 The heat generated is absorbed by conduction through solid dielectric

and lost to surrounding by radiation from its outer surface

 Heat generated, Wdc (W/cm3) under DC stress Edc is given as:

Where,
 σ is the dc conductivity of the material
16
 Thermal Breakdown
 Under AC stress, Eac the heat generated, Wac (W/cm3) is given by:

Where,
• f is the dc conductivity of the material
• δ is the loss angle of the dielectric material
• Eac is the rms value

17
 Thermal Breakdown
 The heat dissipated, WT (W/cm3) is given by :

Where,

• CV is the specific heat of the material

• T is the temperature of the material
• K is the thermal conductivity of the material
• t is the time over which the heat is dissipated

18
 Thermal Breakdown
 Equilibrium is reached when the heat used to raise the temperature
of the dielectric plus the heat radiated (dissipated heat) becomes
equal to the heat generated.

 Thermal breakdown occurs when generated heat exceeds dissipated

heat

 Consider the following figure:

19
 Thermal Breakdown
 Heat dissipated is represented as straight line and heat generated at
different fields are shown by curves.

 For field E1, thermal equilibrium is achieved at T1. Below this value, heat
generated exceeds heat dissipated thus breakdown may occur. Beyond
T1, heat loss is greater than heat generated; thus breakdown will not
occur

 For field E2, thermal equilibrium is achieved at T2. Breakdown may occur
both below and beyond this value as heat generated is higher than heat
dissipated

 For field E3, thermal equilibrium is not achieved for any temperature
values so this level of field will almost likely cause breakdown due to
thermal
 By identifying the thermal breakdown stress for a particular material, a
temperature limit can be set for each operating stress level 20
Electrochemical Deterioration

21
Electrochemical Deterioration

The variety of chemical degradation processes will lead the materials

to lose their electrical and mechanical properties / strength.
22
 Treeing

 Electrical treeing is also called as Lichtenberg figure.

 Treeing is discharge channels that spread through the solid insulation

in an irregular ‘tree’ like fashion.

 It is called electrical treeing when the discharge occurs without the

presence of water.

 However, if there is water presence inside the solid insulation

(manufacturing or degradation or ingress), it is called water treeing.

23
 Treeing
Two types:

24
 Treeing

 In practical insulation systems, solid material is stressed together with

one or more other materials.

 If one of the materials is a gas or a liquid or a solid with lower

electrical properties, then, breakdown voltage will be influenced more
by the weak medium than by the solid.

25
 Treeing
Consider the following figure :

Relationship between the fields across the dielectrics, E1 and E2 is given by :

26
 Treeing
 If the applied voltage at the electrodes is V, then:

 Substituting the equations will give:

27
 Treeing
 Rearrange the equation will give:

 Hence, the voltage across each dielectric can be written as:

 If ε2 > ε1, field becomes very significant across d1.

28
 Treeing

 Sparking can occur in the gap and charge accumulation takes place at
the surface of solid insulation.

 As time passes, breakdown channels spread through the solid

insulation in an irregular ‘tree’ like fashion leading to formation of
conducting channels.

 Eventually the conducting path will bridge the electrodes and cause
total failure of insulation

29
 Tracking
 Tracking occurs during surface or creepage discharge on the surface of
solid insulation

 Tracking is a formation of a permanent conducting path (usually

carbon) across the surface of an insulation.

 In most cases, tracking occurs as a result of surface degradation or

contaminants moisture, dust, etc) such as the outdoor insulation.

 Leakage current passes through the solid insulation surface and this
leads to formation of spark.

 Heat resulting from the small sparks causes carbonization and form
permanent ‘carbon track’ on the surface

30
 Tracking
 This further increases the electric stress over the rest of the insulating
region

 Insulation failure occurs when carbonized tracks bridge the distance

between electrodes

 The tracking shape can be in tree-like shape :

Figure 1: carbonized electrical trees

31
Tracking

Figure 2: Flashover failure along barrier board that might due to

tracking or surface/creepage discharge
32
 Tracking

Figure 3: Tracking with white and carbonized marks at oil-pressboard

interface

33
 Internal Discharge
 Solid insulating materials often contain cavities or voids within the
dielectric material or on boundaries between the dielectric and
electrodes .

 These voids are filled with a medium (gas or liquid) of lower dielectric
breakdown strength and permittivity than that of the solid insulation.

 Thus, electric field intensity in the voids is higher than in the solid
dielectric

 Under normal working voltages, the voltage across the voids may
exceed the breakdown value and thus breakdown may be initiated in
the void.

34
 Internal Discharge
 Breakdown within the void is a localized breakdown event and called
as internal discharge or partial discharge (PD).

 Consider the following figure:

Cc represents the capacitance of the void

Cb corresponds to the capacitance of the dielectric which is in series with
the void
Ca the capacitance of the rest of the dielectric. 35
 Internal Discharge
 The capacitance of the void and the dielectric that is in series with the
void are given as:

 The voltage across the void is:

36
 Internal Discharge
Substituting and rearrange the equations will give:

Prove this..!!

 Then, try prove the above equation using the following equation that
we derive previously (section of breakdown due to treeing):

OR

37
 Internal Discharge
 Assuming the cavity is filled with a gas (εc ≈ 1),

38
 Internal Discharge
 Consider the following figure

39
 Internal Discharge
 Under applied voltage Va, Vc also increases until it reaches the
breakdown value V+ of the gap t and discharge occurs .

 V+ is called the partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV)

 The dotted curve shows qualitatively the voltage that would appear (i.e.
voltage drop) across the cavity if it did not breakdown

 When discharge occurs, Vc drops and spark extinguished (voltage at this

level is called partial discharge extinction voltage (PDEV)).

 Then, Vc starts increasing again until it reaches V+ again and thus, a

new discharge occurs

40
 Internal Discharge
 Several discharges may take place during the rising part of the applied
voltage, Va

 Similarly, at the decreasing part of the applied voltage, Va, the cavity
discharges also occur as the voltage across it reaches V-.

 This process repeats again and again, and give rise to positive and
negative current pulses on raising and decreasing the voltage applied.

 The internal discharge will have the same effect as treeing on the
insulation.

 When breakdown occurs in the voids, electrons and positive ions are
produced.

41
 Internal Discharge

 They will have sufficient energy to travel from the electric field and
when they reach the void surfaces, they may break the chemical bonds
of the solid material.

 In addition, in each discharge, there will be some heat dissipated in the

cavities and this will carbonize the surface of the voids and will cause
erosion of the material.

 Channels produced increase the conduction and eventually leading to

breakdown between electrodes.

42
Internal Discharge

 The life of insulation with partial discharge (treeing, tracking

and internal discharge) depends on the applied voltage and
the number of discharges.

 Therefore, complete breakdown of an insulation system due

to partial discharges (treeing, tracking and internal
discharge) may occur in a few minutes to few years.

43
 Internal Discharge
 One of the most common methods to analyzed partially discharges is
using Phase-resolved Partial Discharge (PRPD) Pattern.

44