Breakdown in Solids

• Solid materials have higher breakdown

strength than gaseous and liquids
• Good Solids Dielectric Must Have:
1.High Breakdown Strength
2.Low dielectric loss
3.High mechanical Strength
4.Should be free from moisture
 Factor Affecting the breakdown of
Solids
• Ambient Temperature.
• Mechanical Strength
• Impurities, Gaseous inclusion, water and
moistures.
• Chemical deterioration.
• Permittivity.
 The principal mechanisms for
breakdown of Solid materials:

Intrinsic Breakdown or ionic Breakdown

Electromechanical Breakdown.
Thermal Breakdown
Electrochemical Breakdown
• The mechanism of breakdown is a complex
phenomena in the case of solids, and varies
depending on the time of application of
voltage.
• Time of application plays an important role in
breakdown process, for discussion purposes,
it is convenient to divide the time scale of
voltage application into regions in which
different mechanisms operate.
 Intrinsic Breakdown
• When voltages are applied only for short durations of
the order of 10-8S the dielectric strength of a solid
dielectric increases very rapidly to an upper limit called
the intrinsic electric strength.
• Intrinsic breakdown depends upon the presence of
free electrons which are capable of migration through
the lattice of the dielectric.
• A small number of conduction elections are present in
solid dielectrics, along with some structural
imperfections and small amounts of impurities.
• Types of Intrinsic Breakdown:
1. Electronic Breakdown
2. Avalanche or Streamer Breakdown
• Electronic Breakdown
• Intrinsic breakdown occurs in time of the order of 10-8s
and therefore is assumed to be electronic in nature.
• When an electric field is applied, electrons gain energy
from the electric field and cross the forbidden energy
gap from the valence to the conduction band.
• When this process proceeds continuously, more and
more electrons get collected in conduction band, and it
leads breakdown.
 Avalanche or Streamer Breakdown
• This is similar to breakdown in gases due to
cumulative ionization.
• Conduction electrons gain sufficient energy
above a certain critical electric field and cause
liberation of electrons from the lattice atoms
by collisions.
• Under uniform field conditions, breakdown
will occur when an electron avalanche bridges
the electrode gap.
 Electromechanical breakdown
• When a dielectric material is subjected to an electric
field, charges of opposite nature are induced on the
two opposite surfaces of the material and hence a
force of attraction is developed and the specimen is
subjected to electrostatic compressive forces.
• when these forces exceed the mechanical withstand
strength of the material, the material collapses.
• If the initial thickness of the material is d0 and is
compressed to a thickness d under the applied voltage
V then the compressive stress developed due to
electric field is:
 Usually, mechanical instability occurs when

the highest apparent electric stress before breakdown

 Thermal Breakdown
• When an insulating material is subjected to an
electric field, the material gets heated up due
to conduction current.
• The conductivity of the material increases
with increase in temperature and a condition
of instability is reached when the heat
generated exceeds the heat dissipated by the
material and the material breaks down.
 Electrochemical Breakdown
• Whenever cavities are formed in solid dielectrics, the
dielectric strength in these solid specimen decreases.
• It is related to thermal breakdown
• Electrochemical deterioration is due to the presence of
mobility of ions which are responsible for leakage current
and energy losses in material.
• In presence of air and gases due to the chemical reaction
with insulating materials, dielectric strength affected.
• Due to the oxidation with some air or ozone. i.e. rubber is
oxidize with ozone and cracks in pressure of ozone.
• Due to the contacts of different insulating materials with
each other in any practice apparatus.
• Due to the presence of moistures and water particles.
 Chemical & Electrochemical
Deterioration & Breakdown
• In the presence of air and other gases some
dielectric materials undergo chemical changes
when subjected to continuous electrical stresses.
• Some of the important chemical reactions that
occur are the following:
1. Oxidation
2. Hydrolysis
3. Chemical Action
• Oxidation
• In the presence of air or oxygen, materials such as
rubber and polyethylene undergo oxidation giving
rise to surface cracks.
• Hydrolysis
• When moisture or water vapour is present on the
surface of a solid dielectric, hydrolysis occurs and the
materials lose their electrical and mechanical
properties.
• Electrical properties of materials such as paper,
cotton tape, and other cellulose materials
deteriorate very rapidly due to hydrolysis.
• Plastics like polyethylene undergo changes, and their
service life considerably reduces.
 Chemical Action

• Even in the absence of electric fields,

progressive chemical degradation of insulating
materials can occur due to a variety of
processes such as chemical instability at high
temperatures, oxidation and cracking in the
presence of air and ozone, and hydrolysis due
to moisture and heat.
Breakdown due to Treeing & Tracking
• When a solid dielectric subjected to electrical
stresses for a long time, normally two kinds of
visible markings are observed on the dielectric
materials. They are:
1. The presence of a conducting path across the
surface of the insulation
2. A mechanism whereby leakage current passes
through the conducting path finally leading to the
formation of a spark. Insulation deterioration
occurs as a result of these sparks.
• Tracking is the formation of a continuous
conducting paths across the surface of the
insulation mainly due to surface erosion under
voltage applications.

• The spreading of spark channels during

tracking, in the form of the branches of a tree
is called treeing.
• When a dielectric material lies between two
electrodes as shown in below Figure , there is
a possibility for two different dielectric media,
the air and the dielectric, to come in series.
• This is The voltages across the two media are
as shown (𝑉1across the air gap, and 𝑉2 across
the dielectric). The voltage 𝑉1across the air
gap is given as,

where V is the applied voltage.

• Since 𝜀2> 𝜀1, most of the voltage appears
across 𝑑1,the air gap.
• Sparking will occur in the air gap and, charge
accumulation takes place on the surface of the
insulation.
• Sometimes the spark erodes the surface of the
insulation.
• As time passes, breakdown channels spread
through the insulation in an irregular "tree" like
fashion leading to the formation of conducting
channels. This kind of channelling is called
treeing.