EE-463 Fundamentals of High Voltage Engineering Week 2

Dielectric Materials

Dielectric
The word ‘Dielectric’ comes from the Greek prefix ‘di’ or ‘dia’ meaning ‘across’. That is,
the material which is placed across the plates of a capacitor, just like a non-conducting
bridge. Dielectric materials are basically plain and simple electrical insulators. By the
peripheral application of electrical field, these electrical insulators get polarised.

Now, let us discuss what polarisation is. It is actually the alignment of the dipole
moments (measurement of the breakup of two oppositely charged charges) of the
permanent or induced dipole in the direction of the peripheral electric field. This is
explained below.

Dielectric materials have no free charges because, all the electrons are bound and
associated with the nearest atom. The polar molecules in the material will be in random
alignment when there is no peripheral electric field as shown in figure 1.

Now, when an electric field is implemented to this material, it will get polarised by
aligning the dipole moments of polar molecules. The positive charges within the
material are shifted slightly in the direction of electric field and the negative charges in
the direction opposing the direction of electric field.
When we place a dielectric material in an electric field, practically no current is flowing
through them, rather polarisation of molecules happens. It transfers electrical energy
through the shifting of current and not through the process of conduction. This is
shown in Figure 2.

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EE-463 Fundamentals of High Voltage Engineering Week 2

The dielectric material which is used in capacitors fulfils the following functions.

 Decreases the useful electric field between the capacitor plates.

 Boosts the capacitance of the capacitor plate structure.
 Keep the conducting plates from coming in contact.
 Reduce the possibility of shorting out by sparking during high voltages.

As said above, the presence of dielectric material will decrease the electric field
produced by the charge density. The effective electric field which is produced by the
charge density can be given by

σ – Charge density in A/m2

κ – Dielectric constant.

ε0 – Permittivity of free space in F/m = 8.854 × 10-12 F/m.

The effective field is decreased by polarisation of the dielectric by a factor κ. It is called

the dielectric constant of the material. For a vacuum, it is equal to 1.
The capacitance of the normal capacitor;

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EE-463 Fundamentals of High Voltage Engineering Week 2

The capacitance of the capacitor which is filled with the dielectric will be increased by
the factor called the dielectric constant, κ which is given by

κ’ is defined as the relative permittivity of a dielectric material and it is an important

parameter in deciding the capacitor characteristics.

Every insulator can be forced to conduct electric current or electricity. This

phenomenon is known as dielectric breakdown. During high voltages, a capacitor with
a dielectric will reduce the chance of short circuit by sparking (that particular voltage
which cause breakdown is called dielectric breakdown voltage and its field strength is
known as dielectric strength). Another important property of a dielectric is its ability to
support an electric field with dissipating minimum energy as heat. A good dielectric
should have minimum dielectric loss.

Types of Dielectric Materials

Vacuum, Solids, Liquids and Gases can be a dielectric material. Some of the examples of
solid dielectric materials are ceramics, paper, mica, glass etc. Liquid dielectric materials
are distilled water, transformer oil etc. Gas dielectrics are nitrogen, dry air, helium,
oxides of various metals etc. Perfect vacuum is also a dielectric.

Application of Dielectric Materials

Dielectric materials can be used in capacitors for energy storage. It is used in

photosensitive materials for charge storage in laser printers and copying machines. It is
used for mechanical actuation, sound generation, piezoelectricity, cap sense etc.

Capacitor
A capacitor in an electrical circuit behaves as a charge storage device. It holds the
electric charge when we apply a voltage across it, and it gives up the stored charge to

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EE-463 Fundamentals of High Voltage Engineering Week 2

the circuit as when required. The most basic construction of a capacitor consists of two
parallel conductors (usually metallic plates) separated by a dielectric material. When we
connect a voltage source across the capacitor, the conductor (capacitor plate) attached to
the positive terminal of the source becomes positively charged, and the conductor
(capacitor plate) connected to the negative terminal of the source becomes negatively
charged. Because of the presence of dielectric in between the conductors, ideally, no
charge can migrate from one plate to other.

Capacitance

Now we understand that the charge accumulation in the conductors (plates) causes the
voltage or potential difference across the capacitor. The quantity of charge accumulated
in the capacitor for developing a particular voltage across the capacitor is referred to as
the charge holding capacity of the capacitor. We measure this charge accumulation
capability of a capacitor in a unit called capacitance. The capacitance is the charge gets
stored in a capacitor for developing 1 volt potential difference across it. Hence, there is a
direct relationship between the charge and voltage of a capacitor. The charge
accumulated in the capacitor is directly proportional to the voltage developed across
the capacitor.

Where Q is the charge and V is the voltage.

Here C is the constant of proportionality, and this is capacitance,

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EE-463 Fundamentals of High Voltage Engineering Week 2

The capacitance depends upon three physical factors, and these are the active area of
the capacitor conductor (plates), the distance between the conductors (plates) and
permittivity of the dielectric medium.

Here, ε is permittivity of the dielectric medium, A is the active area of the plate and d is
the perpendicular distance between the plates.

Electric Plasma
Plasma is formed when the outer electrons of the gaseous atom are stretched away from
the influence of their nuclei, electrically neutral medium of unbound positive and
negative particles (i.e. the overall charge of a plasma is roughly zero). Although these
particles are unbound, they are not "free" in the sense of not experiencing forces.
Moving charged particles generate an electric current within a magnetic field, and any
movement of a charged plasma particle affects and is affected by the fields created by
the other charges. In turn this governs collective behaviour with many degrees of
variation.

Electric Spark

An electric spark is a type of electrostatic discharge that occurs when an electric field
crate an ionized electrically conductive channel of air and producing an emission of
light and sound is called Electric spark.

Flashover
A flashover is the near-simultaneous ignition of most of the directly exposed
combustible material in an enclosed area. When certain organic materials are heated,
they undergo thermal decomposition and release flammable gases. Flashover occurs
when the majority of the exposed surfaces in a space are heated to their auto-ignition
temperature and emit flammable gases Flashover normally occurs at 500 °C (932 °F) or
590 °C (1,100 °F) for ordinary combustibles and an incident heat flux at floor level of 20
kilowatts per square metre (2.5 hp/sq ft).

Flashover Voltage
The voltage at which an electric discharge occurs between two electrodes that are
separated by an insulator; the value depends on whether the insulator surface is dry or
wet. Also known as sparkover voltage.

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EE-463 Fundamentals of High Voltage Engineering Week 2

Dielectric Breakdown

Electrical breakdown or dielectric breakdown is a process that occurs when an electrical

insulating material, subjected to a high enough voltage, suddenly becomes an electrical
conductor and electric current flows through it. All insulating materials undergo
breakdown when the electric field caused by an applied voltage exceeds the material's
dielectric strength.

Breakdown Voltage

The voltage at which a given insulating object becomes conductive is called its
breakdown voltage and depends on its size and shape. Under sufficient electrical
potential, electrical breakdown can occur within solids, liquids, gases or vacuum.
However, the specific breakdown mechanisms are different for each kind of dielectric
medium.

Electrical breakdown may be a momentary event (as in an electrostatic discharge), or

may lead to a continuous electric arc if protective devices fail to interrupt the current in
a power circuit. In this case electrical breakdown can cause catastrophic failure of
electrical equipment, and fire hazards.

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