Bahir Dar University

Bahir Dar Institute Of Technology

Faculty Of Electrical And Computer Engineering

Electrical material and technology

Chapter 5
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
• Dielectric materials Are insulators, Solids which have an energy gap
of 3eV or more are termed as insulators.
• it is almost impossible to excite the electrons from the valence band to
conduction band by an applied field, However, they allow movement
of some electrons at abnormally high temperatures, causing a small
flow of current.
• Dielectrics are non-electric materials of high specific resistance ρ,
negative temperature coefficient of resistance (-α) and large
insulation resistance.
• Dielectric materials such as air, mica, glass, porcelain, rubber, Bakelite
and transformer oil.

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 FUNDAMENTAL DEFINITIONS AND PROPERTIES:
1. Electric field strength:
 the region of space where charged particle would experience an electric force, caused
by the presence of other charge.
 The electric field strength in a dielectric is defined as the potential drop per unit
length measured in volts/m.
 Electric field strength is also called as Electric force, If potential difference of V volts is
maintained across the two metal plates say A1 and A2, held ℓ meters apart, then
Electrical field strength E = V/ ℓ Volts/m.
2. Electric Flux:
 Electric flux measure total number of line of force emanated from the charge body,
 We know that number of line of force emanated from a positive charge body is
numerically equal to the charge of the body measured in coulomb.
 Flux emanated (ψ) = charge Q and the unit of flux is also taken as Coulomb.

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3. Electric flux density(D):
 Electric flux density is defined as the quantity of flux that passes through a unit
area, Flux emanated (ψ) = charge Q so electric flux density is the charge per unit
area of the dielectric.
 Electrical flux density D = Q/A measured in coulombs/m2
4. Electric dipole:
 electric dipole is a pair of equal and opposite charges, separated by a distance d.
dipole moment = q*d

5. The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor

 capacitance store energy in the form of Electric Field.
 Q directly proportional to V, Q=CV, C=Q/V, V=Ed, E=D/ε0 ……
C=(ε0A)/d, C=(ε0εrA)/d, ε=ε0εr

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6. Dielectric constant (Relative permittivity):
 The dielectric constant is the ratio of permittivity of the dielectric in use to the permittivity
of a vacuum.
 It refers to the relative permittivity of a dielectric material, the ability to collect and store
energy in the form of electric field compared to vacuum
εr=ε/εo, The value of εr =1 for air or vacuum. For solids εr>1
7. Polarization
 The separation of negative and positive charges is called polarization. i.e. process
of producing electric dipoles by an electric field is called polarization
µ = α E where α is called Polarizability
 is the vector field that expresses the volumetric density of permanent or induced electric
dipole moments in a dielectric material material.
P=p/v measured in c/m2
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8. Polarization vector
 is the vector field that expresses the volumetric density of permanent or induced
electric dipole moments in a dielectric material material.
 If “µ” is the average dipole moment per molecule and “N” is the number of molecules per
unit volume then the polarization of the solid is given by the polarization vector P and it can be
written as
P=µN
8. Electrical Susceptibility(χe):
 It's a dimensionless constant that reflects how easily a material polarizes under an electric field. A
higher susceptibility indicates a stronger response to the field.
 The polarization vector P is proportional to the applied electric field E, So we can write.
P α E , P = ε0 χeE, χe= εr-1
 χe is a characteristic of every dielectric and which is called electrical susceptibility
 The electric displacement D is related to the polarization density P by.

Example; If an ionic crystal is subjected to an electric field of 1000 Vm–1 and the
resulting polarization 4.3 × 10–8 m2. Calculate the relative permittivity of NaCl.
ε0 = 8.85×10−12 F⋅m−1
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POLARIZATION AND MECHANISMS OF POLARIZATION IN DIELECTRICS
Dielectric Polarization:
 Dielectric polarization is the displacement of charged particles under the action of the external electric
field(The process of producing electric dipoles inside the dielectric by the application of an external
electrical field is called polarization in dielectrics.)
 There are four types of polarization mechanisms:
1. Electronic polarization:
 Electronic polarization occurs due to displacement of positively charged nucleus and negatively charged
electrons of an atom in the opposite directions on the application of an electric field. This will result in
the creation of dipole moment in the dielectric.
 The induced Dipole moment (μ) is proportional to the electric field strength (E). μ α E, µ=αeE , αe is
electronic Polarizability.
 Example Calculate the electronic Polarization of argon atom. Given at εr= 1.0024 at NTP and N = 2.7×1025
atom m–3 . ε0 = 8.85×10−12 F⋅m−1

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2. Ionic polarization:
 Ionic Polarization which arises due to the displacement of cations (+ve) and
anions (-ve) in opposite directions and occurs in ionic solids in the presence of
electric field, is called ionic polarization. Example NaCl

3. Orientation polarization
 Polar molecules have permanent dipole even in the absence of an electric field.
 under an electric field, dipoles rotate themselves in the direction of the applied
field, creating a net average dipole moment per molecule. Dipole orientation is
more common in polymers since their atomic structure permits reorientation

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4. Space-charge polarization
 Not all dielectrics exhibit space charge polarization.
 The space charge polarization occurs due to the diffusion of ions along the field direction
giving rise to redistribution of charges in the dielectric this leads to accumulation of
charges at the electrodes or at the interfaces of multiphase dielectric material.

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Internal or local field
 The internal field, also called the local field (Ei), refers to the actual electric field experienced by an
individual atom or molecule within a dielectric material when placed in an external electric field.
 Lorentz method A theoretical method used to estimate the internal field within a dielectric material,
The dielectric material is uniformly polarized by placing it in between two plates of a parallel plate
capacitor (uniform electrical field).
 To find internal field acting on an atom at C of dielectric, let us consider an imaginary
small spherical cavity around the atom.
 The internal field (Eint) at the atom site is considered to be resultant of the following
four components. E1, E2, E3 and E4
Eint = E1+E2+E3+E4
 E1 → Electrical field due to charges on the plates of the capacitor (without dielectric)
 E2 → Electrical field due to polarized charges (induced charges) on the plane surface
of the dielectric.
 E3 → Electrical field due to polarized charges induced on the surface of the
imaginary spherical cavity (to be calculated).
 E4 → Electrical field due to permanent dipoles of atoms inside the spherical cavity
considered.

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1. Field E1
 E1 is the field intensity at C due to the charge density on the plates. From the field
theory E1=E + 𝑃/𝜀0
2. Field E2
 𝐸2 is the intensity at C due to the charge density induced on the two sides of the
dielectric, therefore E2=-𝑃/𝜀0
3. Field E4
 𝑬4 is the field intensity at C due to other atoms contained in the cavity we are
assuming a cubic structure so E3 = 0 because of symmetry,
 Due to this symmetry, the electric fields generated by the dipoles of these
surrounding atoms within the cavity tend to cancel each other at point C. E3=0
4. Field E3
 E3 → Electrical field due to polarised charges induced on the surface of
the imaginary spherical cavity. E3=P/ 3ε0 12
 Eint = E1+E2+E3+E4
 Eint =E+𝑃/𝜀0+-𝑃/𝜀0+0+P/ 3ε0
 Eint =E+P/ 3ε0

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MECHANISMS OF ELECTRICAL BREAKDOWN OF DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
 When a dielectric is placed in an electric field and if the electric field is increased, when
the field exceeds the critical field, the dielectric losses its insulating property and
becomes conducting(large amount of current flows through it). This phenomenon is
called dielectric breakdown.
 The electric field strength at which the dielectric breakdown occurs is known as The
dielectric strength
dielectric strength=Dielectric voltage / Thickness of dielectric
• Types of Breakdown are:
1. Intrinsic breakdown
2. avalanche breakdown
3. Thermal breakdown
4. Chemical and electrochemical breakdown
5. Discharge breakdown
6. Defect breakdown

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1. Intrinsic breakdown
 Intrinsic breakdown depends upon the presence of free electron which capable of
migration through the lattice of the dielectric.
 Usually small numbers of conduction electrons are present, due to some
structural imperfections and small amounts of impurities.
 The impurity atoms or molecules act as traps for the conduction electrons,
These traps can capture and hold the free electrons up to certain ranges of
electric fields and temperatures preventing them from moving freely through the
material. When these ranges are exceeded, additional electrons and trapped
electrons are released and participate in the conduction process. Therefore
current flows

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2. Avalanche Breakdown
• These conduction electrons on further application of field, then collide with the valence
electrons in the covalent bond and remove more electrons hence transferring them
as conduction electrons.
• These secondary conduction electrons again dislodge some other bound electrons in
the valence band and this process continues as a chain reaction. Therefore very large
current flows through the dielectrics and hence called as avalanche breakdown.
3. Thermal Breakdown
 In general, when a dielectric is subjected to an electric field heat is generated. This
generated heat is dissipated by the dielectric.
 In some cases the heat generated will be very high compared to the heat dissipated.
Under such conditions the temperature inside the dielectric increases and heat may
produce breakdown. This type of breakdown is known as thermal breakdown.

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4. CHEMICAL AND ELECTROCHEMICAL BREAKDOWN
materials undergo chemical changes when subjected to continuous electrical
stresses. Chemical reactions that occur are:
 Oxidation: In the presence of air or oxygen,
 Hydrolysis: When moisture or water vapor is present on the surface of the solid
dielectric,
 Chemical Action: Progressive chemical degradation can occur due to a variety
of processes such as chemical instability at high temperature, oxidation, cracking
and hydrolysis.
• Chemical and electrochemical deterioration increases very rapidly with
temperature. When the temperature is increased, mobility of ions will increase due
to this insulation resistance decreases and hence dielectrics become conducting.
This type of breakdown is called as chemical and electro chemical breakdown.

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5. DISCHARGE BREAKDOWN
 Discharge breakdown occurs when a dielectric contains occluded air bubbles
("Occluded air bubbles" refers to tiny pockets of air trapped inside a solid
material.) as shown in fig.
 when this type of dielectric subjected to electrical field, the gases present inside
the dielectric material will easily ionize and thus produce large ionization current.
This is known as discharge breakdown.
 "Occluded air bubbles" refers to tiny pockets of air trapped inside a solid material.

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6. Defect Breakdown.
• Some dielectrics have defects such as cracks, pores, blow holes etc. these vacant position
may have moisture or impurities which leads to breakdown called as defect breakdown.
Remedies For Breakdown Mechanisms
To avoid breakdown, the dielectric material should have the following properties.
 It should have high resistivity.
 It must possess high dielectric strength.
 It should have sufficient mechanical strength.
 Dielectric loss should be low.
 Thermal expansion should small.
 It should be fire proof.
 It should resistive to oils, liquids and gases.
 It must have less density.
 There should not be any defects.
 It must be in pure form
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Ferroelectricity:
 property of certain non conducting crystals, or dielectrics, that exhibit spontaneous
electric polarization (separation of the center of positive and negative electric charge,
making one side of the crystal positive and the opposite side negative) without any
applied external field, that can be reversed in direction by the application of an
appropriate electric field.
Classifications:
The dielectric materials may be classified as solid liquid and gas dielectrics.
 In solid form they may be polymeric such as nylon, PVC, rubber, Bakelite, asbestos and
wool or may belong to the ceramic family such as glass, silica, mica, porcelain etc.
 In liquid form they may be mineral insulating oils, etc.
 In gaseous form they may be air, nitrogen, Sulphur hexafluoride, insert gases etc.

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