Unit V: Dielectric Materials

Dielectric
Dielectrics introduction, Polarization Properties
and dielectric of Materials
constant, Polarization mechanism: Ionic, Electronic,
orientational and space charge polarization, Bound charges and their physical interpretation, Electric
displacement vector, Equation of electric field inside dielectrics, Clausius–Mossotti relation, Dielectric
losses, Dielectric breakdown and types, Applications of dielectric materials.

Dielectrics
Dielectrics or insulators are non-conducting materials such as glass, ceramic, polymers, wood, paper etc.
Their resistivity ranges from 10 10 to 10 20 ohm meter. Faraday discovered that the capacitance of a
parallel plate capacitor is increased K times when it is filled with a dielectric material. The factor K is
known as the dielectric constant. It is a dimensionless quantity and is always greater than unity. It is
independent of size and shape of the material and is equal to the ratio of permittivity of the material to the
permittivity of the free space. It is also known as relative permittivity.

Polar and Non-polar Dielectric materials:

Non-polar Dielectric materials:

A molecule or an atom consists of positive and negative charges (i.e. nuclei and electrons). The two
charges are always equal in magnitude. All the positive charge in a molecule can be supposed to be
centered at one point and all the negative charges at another point. These points are called centers of
positive and negative charge. When these centers coincide then the dipole moment is zero and the
molecule is said to be a non-polar dielectric. Most of the symmetric molecules such as H 2 , N 2 , O 2 , Cl
2 , CH 4 , C 6 H 6 etc are non polar.

Polar Dielectric materials :

If the centers of positive and negative charge do not coincide, the molecule will possess a
permanent dipole moment. Such molecules are called polar molecules and the material is said to be a
polar dielectric. The un-symmetric molecules such as N 2 O, H 2 O, NH 3 , C 2 H 5 Cl are polar molecules.
Dielectric in an Electric Field and Polarization :

When a non-polar dielectric is kept in an external electric field, positive and negative electric charges
within it undergo a relative shift on opposite directions. Electric field distorts the negative cloud of
electrons around positive atomic nuclei in a direction opposite to the field. This slight separation of
charge makes one side of the atom somewhat positive and the opposite side somewhat negative creating
dipoles. Such dipoles are called induced dipoles and the dielectric is said to be polarized.

In case of polar molecules, permanent dipoles are present; however, they are generally oriented randomly
due to thermal agitation, and thus there is no net dipole moment in absence of an electric field (See Fig.
2a). When an electric field is applied, a torque is exerted on the dipoles causing them to partially align
with the field. The dipoles are oriented by rotation and aligned in the direction of the electric field. This
gives rise to a net magnetic moment.

Thus in the presence of an external electric field, a dielectric develops a net dipole moment. This
phenomenon is called as dielectric polarization. The net dipole moment developed per unit volume is
known as Polarization (P).

The polarization of material is proportional to electric field E and can be written as-
P   0 e E
Where  0 is the permittivity of free space (8.85 х 10-12 C2/Nm2) and  e is known as the
dielectric susceptibility of the material. The value of  e depends on the microscopic structure of the
dielectric and also on external conditions such as temperature.
Dielectric constant: The ratio of permittivity of the dielectric to that of the free space is known as
dielectric constant (K) or relative permittivity (  r ).

K  r 
0
It can be defined in following ways:
 1. When a dielectric is placed between the plates of a parallel plate capacitor, its capacitance increases.
The ratio of the capacitance of a capacitor with dielectric between the plates to that without dielectric
between the plates is the dielectric constant. K = C/C 0, where C is the capacitance with dielectric and C 0
is the capacitance without dielectric between the plates.
2. According to Coulombs law, the force between two charges q 1 and q2 in free space is given by
1 q1q2
F
4 0 r 2
When the charges are placed in a dielectric medium the force between them is given by
1 q1q2
F
4 r 2
 F0
Thus K   r  
0 F
Thus the dielectric constant may be defined as the ratio of the force between two charges in free space to
the force between two charges in the dielectric medium

Polarizability
Consider an electrically neutral slab of an isotropic dielectric in a uniform electric field E. Since no
charge is free in the dielectric all are bound electrons which are induced in this external electric field.
The action of electric field is to displace the positive charges in the direction of field and negative in the
opposite direction of field. Each atom or molecule of dielectric then acquires an electric dipole moment
parallel to the direction of field. This induced dipole moment is proportional to the field.
p = E
The constant of proportionality  is called atomic polarizability.
When all such dipole are pointing along the direction of field then the dielectric material becomes
polarized and this effect is known as dielectric polarization and defined as dipole moment per unit
volume. So the polarization of material P becomes
P=np
= nE
Where N is the number of dipoles (atoms) per unit volume.

Types of Polarization
When a dielectric material is subjected to an electric field, the displacement of charge particles takes
place. This displacement of charge particles results in the formation of electric dipole moment in atoms,
ions or in molecules of material which polarize the material. There are three important types of
polarization. These are:
(1) Electronic Polarization
(2) Ionic Polarization
(3) Orientation Polarization
(4) Space-Charge Polarization

(1) Electronic Polarization:

The electronic polarization occurs due to displacement of positive and negative charges in a dielectric
material, when an external electric field is applied. As the centers of positive and negative charges are
separated, dipole moment is created in each atom. This induced dipole moment is proportional to the
field.
pe =  e E
The constant of proportionality  e is called electronic polarizability. If there are n atoms per unit
volume in the dielectric, then the polarization is given by

Pe = n  e E
The electronic polarizability is independent of temperature.

(2) Ionic Polarization: This type of polarization occurs only in ionic dielectrics and is due to
displacement of ions of opposite signs as shown below. Consider, for simplicity a NaCl molecule it is
composed of Na  ions and Cl  ions. When an electric field is applied to the molecule the sodium and
chlorine atoms are displaced in opposite directions until ionic forces stop the process, thus increasing the
dipole moment.

The induced dipole moment is proportional to the applied field and an ionic polarizability  i is
introduced to account for the increase, giving
pi   i E
For most of the materials, the ionic polarizability is less than the electronic polarizability.
The ionic polarization is given by
Pi  n i E
This type of polarization is insensitive to temperature.

(3) Orientational Polarization: This type of polarization only occurs in polar substances. The existence
of a permanent moment is purely a matter of molecular geometry. The permanent dipoles in such
materials can rotate about their axis of symmetry to align with an applied field, which exerts a torque on
them. This additional polarization effect is accounted by introducing orientational polarizability  0 .
 Figure
For a very strong electric field all molecular dipoles may completely aligned along the direction of the
field. If n is the number of molecules per cubic meter, then the orientational polarization P 0 will be

P0 = n  0 E

 0 is the orientaional polarizability.

Thus the atomic polarizability is given by

  e  i  0

(4) Space-Charge Polarization: The space-charge polarization occurs due to the diffusion of
ions, along the field direction, thereby giving rise to redistribution of charges in the dielectrics. Without
the application of external field, the ions are orderly arranged as shown in the Fig. Now, when the field is
applied, the ions diffuse with respect to the direction of applied field. Thus the polarization occurs,
known as space charge polarization.
Normally, this type of polarization occurs in ferrites and semiconductors and will be very small.

Frequency Dependence of dielectric Constant:

In many practical situations, a dielectric is subjected to an alternating electric field. An a.c. field changes
its direction with time. With each direction reversal, the polarization components are required to follow
the field reversals in order to contribute to the total polarization of the dielectric. It follows that the total
polarization depends on the ability of dipoles to orient themselves in the direction of the field during the
alternation of the field. The relative permittivity, a measure of the polarization, shows a marked
difference in its behaviour at different frequencies. The following figure shows the variation of dielectric
constant as a function of frequency.

Figure 1. Variation of the dielectric constant as a function of frequency

In audio frequency region, all types of polarization are possible and the polarizability of the dielectric
is 𝛼 = 𝛼𝑒 + 𝛼𝑖 + 𝛼𝑜 . The polarization is given by P = Pe + Pi +Po. At low frequencies, the dipoles will
get sufficient time to orient themselves completely along the instantaneous direction of the field.

The average time taken by the dipoles to reorient in the field direction is known as the relaxation
τ. The reciprocal of the relaxation time is called the relaxation frequency. If the frequency of the applied
electric field is much higher than relaxation frequency of the dipoles, the dipoles cannot reverse fast
enough. If the dipole relaxation time τ is less than half the period of the electric field T (τ« T/2), the
dipoles can easily follow electric field alternations and contribute to orientation polarization.
Consequently the orientation polarization is effective at low frequencies (f field > frelax).

Usually in the radio frequency or microwave band region, the permanent dipoles fail to follow
the field reversals and the polarization falls to a value corresponding to (P i + Pe). As a result, ɛr decreases
rapidly.

In the infra-red region, in addition to orientational polarization, the ionic polarization also fails to
follow the field reversal due to inertia of the system. Therefore, ionic polarizability becomes zero. So, the
total polarization P=Pe. The electronic polarization is due to the fact that electron clouds respond to the
electric field. The relative permittivity in this region is equal to square of refractive index n of the
dielectric.

(ɛr)optical region = n2

The variation of dielectric constant with frequency shows a bell shaped profile.

In ultra- violet region, even the electron cloud fails to follow the field alternation. So the
electronic contribution to the polarisation too becomes zero. The total polarization P= 0. Therefore
relative permittivity approaches unity. Thus

(ɛr)X-ray = 1

Equation of internal fields (local fields) in liquids and solids

The inter-atomic spaces in gases are very large in comparison to solid and liquids. The atoms
almost touch each other in solids and liquids as the attraction force between them is more than in gaseous
atoms. Therefore, when an electric field E is applied, the solid and liquid atoms experience electric field
in different way than gaseous atoms. This electric field at atom site in liquid or solid is called internal
field or local field.
As the atoms in solid and liquids are closely surrounded by the polarized atoms, their effect is to be
taken into account for internal field. Therefore, the internal field E i at the location of any atom is the
sum of fields E  created by the neighboring polarized atoms and the external field E. So
Ei  E  E 
To evaluate the value of E  let us consider the one dimensional array of atoms as shown in Fig (i).

Figure (i)
This figure shows an array of equi-spaced atomic dipoles with dipole moment pi ( ql ) separated by a
distance a. Let an electric field E is applied from left to right then dipole moment p i is induced in each
atom. The internal field seen by an atom A is the sum of E and the field produced by p i of all other
atoms M, N, R, S.... lying on the left and right of A.
The field at A by p i of M is given by-
2 pi
E AM  (Field by a dipole at A)
4 0 a 3
Similarly field at A by p i of N is -
2 pi
E AN 
4 0 a 3
and the field together by M and N at A (i.e. by left and right dipoles )
pi
E AM  E AN 
 0 a 3
In similar way
pi
E AR  E AS 
 0 (2a) 3
So the internal field at A is
pi pi
Ei ( A)  E    ....
 0 a  0 (2a) 3
3

pi  1
i.e., Ei  E  
 0 a 3 i 1 n 3

1
But 
i 1 n
3
 1.2

1.2 pi
So, Ei  E 
 0 a 3
  pi 
From above equation the local field E i exceeds the applied field. Greater the polarizability ai   
 E
or smaller the inter-atomic spacing, larger is the internal field.

Lorentz field (local field in 3D):

In 3D the local field acting on the dipole is the sum of external field E and the field due to other dipoles.
In three dimensional case, the internal field would be complicated to evaluate however, the general
1
expression is similar to above equation except that is replaced by N i.e. the number of atom per unit
a3
 1.2 
volume and   by  .  is a constant and depends on the structure of crystal and known as internal
 
field constant. Then,
Npi
Ei  E 
0

Or Ei  E  P  P  Npi 
0
1
In case of crystal possessing cubic symmetry, the internal field constant   , now E i can be
3
given as:
P
Ei  E 
3 0
The field given by above equation is called Lorentz field.

Clausius Mosottti Equation

We know that the molecules of non-polar dielectrics do not possess permanent dipole moment. However,
when an external electric field is applied, dipole moment is induced. The polarization P i is proportion to
local electric field Ei, i.e.

Pi   e Ei ………………………………………………….(1)

Where  e is the electronic polarizability per atom.

If there are N molecules per unit volume of the dielectric, then polarization P is given by
P
P   Pi  N e Ei or  e  ………………………………………….(2)
i NEi
The local field Ei is the Lorentz field and is given by
P
Ei  E  ………………………………………………………………….(3)
3 0
Substituting the value of Ei from eqn. (3) in eqn. (2) , we get
P
e  ………………………………………………………..(4)
 P 
N E  
 3 0 
But P   0 ( r  1) E

P
E
Or  0 ( r  1) ……………………………………………………… (5)
From eqns. (4) and (5), we get
P 0
e  N e 
 P P   1 1
N     
  0 ( r  1) 3 0   ( r  1) 3 
N e 1 1
 
0  1 1  ( r  2) 
    
Or  ( r  1) 3   3( r  1) 
N e 3( r  1) ( r  1) N e
 
0 ( r  2) ( r  2) 3 0

This is known as Clausius Mosotti equation.

Dielectric Loss

Dielectric loss can be understood by the simple charging and discharging of a condenser. When a
1
condenser is charged to a potential V, an amount of energy 2 𝐶𝑉 2 is supplied. This energy is stored as the
electrostatic potential energy of the condenser which resides in the dielectric medium. When the
condenser is discharged, the same amount of energy should be released. In practice, only a part of energy
is released. The rest part of energy is dissipated as heat. This is called dielectric loss.

When the capacitor is charged, the dielectric medium comes under the influence of applied a.c. field. As a
result, the molecules are polarized. Due to the polarization, the molecules come into a state of
electrostatic stress. The molecules behave as electric dipoles. When capacitor is discharged, the
molecules should return to their normal state, the dipoles required some sort of internal friction. This
involves the loss of energy. This energy is dissipated as heat by the dielectric to the surroundings.

The dielectric loss may be defined as the loss of energy in the form of heat by a dielectric medium due to
internal friction developed in switching of dipoles to their normal state under the action charging and
discharging (or under a.c. conditions).

Expression for dielectric loss

Let a dielectric material be placed between the plates of a capacitor which is subjected to an alternating
electric field as shown in fig (1a). As a result, the dipoles of the material are engaged in switching action.
Now, the movements of dipoles are opposed by internal friction. This action is equivalent to the presence
of a resistance accompanying the capacitor as shown in fig. 1b
IR
Dielectric
C
C

IC
 C

Fig.1 (a)A dielectric in an alternating field (b) Equivalent circuit

We know that, when an alternating current flows through a resistor, the current I R and applied voltage V
are in phase as shown in Fig.(2a). When an alternating voltage is applied to a capacitor, the current I c
flowing through the capacitor leads the applied voltage by a phase angle of 90 as shown in fig.(2b)
IC

IR
V V

Fig.2 (a) For pure resistance, IR & V are in phase (b) For a capacitor, IC feeds V by 90

Consider the equivalent circuit of fig. 1b. Let a current IR be flowing through the equivalent resistance R
and Ic be the current through the capacitor. IR will be in the direction of V while Ic will lead V by phase
angle 90 as shown in fig.3. The resultant of IC and IR is I. The angle between I and IC is denoted by  and
is called as dielectric loss angle. The tangent of this angle , i.e., tan is called as Loss tangent. This is
taken as measure of electrical loss.

V angle
Loss
ang

Fig.3. Current through the resistor and capacitor

The dielectric loss is due to Joule heating

Dielectric loss = 𝑉𝐼𝑅 = 𝑉 × 𝐼cos (90 − δ)

= 𝑉𝐼sinδ ………………………………………………………………….. (1)

𝐼
From fig.3, 𝐼𝐶 = I cos𝛿 𝑜𝑟 𝐼 = 𝐶 ………………………………….. (2)
cosδ

Substituting the value of I from eq.(2) in eq.(1), we get

𝐶 𝐼
Dielectric loss = 𝑉 × cosδ × sin𝛿

= 𝑉𝐼𝐶 tan δ…………………….(3)

Let XC be the reactance of the capacitor. Then

 1
𝑋𝐶 =
2𝜋𝑓𝐶

where f is the frequency of a.c. applied and C is the capacity of the capacitor.

Now, the current IC is given by

𝑉
𝐼𝐶 = 𝑋 = 𝑉 × (2𝜋𝑓𝐶)………………………………………………………….(4)
𝐶

Substituting the value of IC from eq.(4)in eq.(3), we have

Dielectric loss = 𝑉 × (𝑉 × 2𝜋𝑓𝐶) × tanδ

Or 𝑃 = 𝑉 2 (2𝜋𝑓𝐶)tan𝛿 ……………………………………………..(5)

From eq.5 it is clear that power loss depends on tan provided factors like voltage, frequency and
capacitance are constants. From fig.(3), it is clear that for a given value of IC, tan is large when IR is
large. But large IR means higher joule heating and hence large dielectric loss. Thus, large tan indicates
higher dielectric loss. The loss tangent also represents the absorption of electric energy by a dielectric
subjected to an electric field.

Dielectric Breakdown

The Dielectric materials are not perfect insulators; therefore if the voltage applied to a dielectric material
increases, then the insulation breaks down. The maximum voltage applied to a dielectric at the instant of
breakdown is known as breakdown voltage of insulation.

The dielectric breakdown can be explained on the basis of energy band theory. It is well known fact that
in case of dielectric materials, the conduction band is completely empty and the valence band is
completely filled. The energy band gap is very large of the order of 5eV or more. For electrons from
valence band to jump into the conduction band, a very high voltage is required. The applied voltage
accelerates the electrons to reach into the conduction band. When sufficient numbers of electrons reach
the conduction band, the insulation of dielectric material breaks down and at the point of breakdown,
spark or an electric arc generates which can fuse, burn and crack the dielectric material.

Types of dielectric breakdown

Thermal breakdown
A tiny little current that can't even be measured practically flows locally through "weak" parts of the
dielectric. With increasing field strength this current increases, producing heat locally, which leads to
the generation of point defects. Ionic conductivity sets in, more heat is produced locally, and the
temperature goes up even more. This results in breakdown.
Avalanche breakdown
Even the most perfect insulator contains a few free electrons. Either because there is still a non-zero
probability for electrons in the conduction band, even for large band gaps, or because defects generate
some carriers.
In large electrical field these carriers are accelerated; if the field strength is above a certain limit, they
may pick up so much energy that they can rip off electrons from the atoms of the materials. A chain
reaction then leads to a swift avalanche effect; the current rises exponentially and results in breakdown.
Local discharge
In small cavities (always present in sintered ceramic dielectrics) the field strength is even higher than
the average field (as dielectric constant is small) - a microscopic arc discharge may be initiated.
Electrons and ions from the discharge bombard the inner surface and erode it. The cavity grows, the
current in the arc rises, the temperature rises and leads to breakdown
Electrolytic breakdown
Local electrolytic (i.e involving moving ions) current paths transport some conducting material from the
electrodes into the interior of the dielectric. Humidity (especially if it is acidic) may help. In time some
conducting path can reach into the interior, reducing the local thickness and thus increasing the field
strength. The current goes up leading to breakdown.
This is a very irreproducible mechanism because it depends on many details, especially the local
environmental conditions. It may slowly build up over years before it suddenly runs away and ends in
sudden break-through.

Applications of Dielectric materials

Dielectric material is basically an insulator and hence it has a vide scale of applicability. These are used
in number of electrical and electronics devices as per need of the property of material. Some material
have large electronic and ionic polarizability and therefore used for making of large capacitance of
capacitors. There are many dielectric materials like glass, mica, ceramic, asbestos resin, rubber etc.
which have different uses. Some of them are described briefly.

Glass: Glass is basically silica ( SiO2 ) which is best insulator and act as dielectric. Its dielectric constant
is very high in the range of 4 to 10 and tangent loss is about .002. It is widely used in making electrical
bulbs, electronic valves, switches and in capacitors.

Mica: Mica is an organic compound of silicates of aluminum, soda potash and magnesia. It is
crystalline in nature and can be easily split into very thin flat sheets. It also has good mechanical
strength. It is widely used in making electrical devices and machine such as switchgear, armature
winding, electrical iron, and hot plates etc.
Ceramics: Ceramics is a non metallic inorganic compound and has dielectric properties. These are
widely used as insulator in switchgear, plug holder, vacuum type ceramic metal seal etc. This material
also used in capacitors which can be operated at high temperature.

Asbestos: Asbestos is a good dielectric and used as insulator in the form of paper, tape, cloth and board.
It is also used to make panel board, insulating tubes and cylinders in constructions of air cooled
transformers.

Resin: It is widely used in radio, TV, power and submarine cables.

Rubber: Rubber is very common insulating material which has a very wide application. However, it is
restricted in use by temperature. It is mainly used in making electrical wires, cables, tapes coating etc. In
addition to above, there are many more dielectric as liquid and gases and have a wide applicability.