SOLID INSULATORS

Solid insulating materials are used almost in all electrical equipment, be it an electric heater or a 500
MW generator or a circuit breaker, solid insulation forms an integral part of all electrical equipment
especially when the operating voltages are high. The solid insulation not only provides insulation to
the live parts of the equipment from the grounded structures, it sometimes provides mechanical
support to the equipment. In general, of course, a suitable combination of solid, liquid and gaseous
insulations are used.

Fig. 7.1. Current and voltage transformers housed in epoxy resin. The solid dielectric provides
mechanical support as well as electrical insulation.
The processes responsible for the breakdown of gaseous dielectrics are governed by the rapid
growth of current due to emission of electrons from the cathode, ionization of the gas particles and
fast development of avalanche process. When breakdown occurs the gases regain their dielectric
strength very fast, the liquids regain partially and solid dielectrics lose their strength completely.
The dielectric strength of solid materials is affected by many factors viz. ambient temperature,
humidity, duration of test, impurities or structural defects whether a.c., d.c. or impulse voltages are
being used, pressure applied to these electrodes etc. The mechanism of breakdown in solids is
again less understood. The 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. The various mechanisms are:
1. Electronic Breakdown
2. Electromechanical Breakdown
3. Breakdown due to Treeing
 4. Breakdown due to Tracking
5. Thermal Breakdown
6. Erosion Breakdown
The time of development of failure for different breakdown mechanisms is shown in Fig 7.2.

Fig 7.2. Variation of breakdown strength with time after application of voltage

1 Electronic Breakdown
In pure and homogenous materials, the valence and the conduction bands are separated by a large
energy gap at room temperature and no electron can jump from valance band to the conduction
band. Conductivity of pure dielectrics at room temperature is, therefore, theoretically zero. However,
in practice, they contain some impurities and will always have some free electrons in the conduction
band. An electron in the conduction band will move towards the anode under the effect of the electric
field. If the mean free path is long and the electric field is strong enough, it gains energy sufficient for
ionizing a molecule upon collision. With the new free electron generated, the process continues and
may lead to formation of an electron avalanche. If the avalanche exceeds a certain critical size,
breakdown occurs. This process is similar to the phenomenon observed in gas breakdown. A
discharge of this type develops in a very short time (of the order of 10–8 s.) since it is totally electronic
in nature.
2 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 and when these forces exceed the
mechanical withstand strength of the material, the material collapses.

3 Breakdown due to Treeing

We know that the strength of a chain is given by the strength of the weakest link in the chain.
Similarly, whenever a solid material has some impurities in terms of some gas pockets or liquid
pockets, the dielectric strength of the solid will be reduced. Suppose some gas pockets are trapped
in a solid material during manufacture, the gas has a relative permittivity of unity and the solid

material  , the electric field in the gas will be 

r r times the field in the solid material. As a result, the
gas breaks down at a relatively lower voltage. The charge concentration here in the void will make
the field more non-uniform. These charge concentrations at the voids within the dielectric lead to
breakdown step by step and finally lead to complete rupture of the dielectric. Since the breakdown is
not caused by a single discharge channel and assumes a tree like structure as shown in Fig. 7.3, it is
known as breakdown due to treeing. Photographs showing tree grown in solid dielectrics are shown
in Fig.7.5. The treeing phenomenon can be demonstrated in a laboratory by applying an impulse
voltage between point plane electrodes with the point embedded in a transparent solid dielectric.
(Fig. 7.4).
Fig.7.3. Breakdown channels in plexiglass between point-plane electrodes. Radius of point  = 0.01 in;
thickness 0.19 in. Total number of impulses = 190. Number of channels produced = 16; (n) point
indicates end of nth channel. Radii of circles increase in units of 10 -2 in.
Fig. 7.4. A 3D "Electrical Tree" embedded within a 1.5" cube of Polymethyl Methacrylate.
Source: Wikipedia

Fig. 7.5.a. Electrical tree grown in epoxy resin.

Source: http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/engineering/people/academic-staff/steve-dodd
Fig. 7.5.b. Example of electrical tree in XLPE cable insulation
Source: http://www.arborlec.com/
https://youtu.be/Dq2xQb982vI

4 Breakdown due to Tracking

Tracking is the formation of a permanent conducting path, usually carbon, across a surface of
insulation. For tracking to occur the insulation must contain some organic substance. In an outdoor
environment insulation will in time become covered with contaminant which may be of industrial or
coastal origin (sea salt). When the contamination layer is wetted due to light rain, fog or dew, a
leakage current flows and heats the surface. The heating is non-uniform and some parts of the
pollution layer dries earlier. The dry regions have higher resistance and therefore bear a larger
portion of the applied voltage (resistive divider rule). On these highly stressed dry regions small
sparks are ignited. The heat resulting from the small sparks causes carbonization of the insulation
and leads to formation of permanent ‘carbon track’ on the surface.
Use of organic insulation in the outdoor environment is not desirable due to the risk of tracking. The
rate of tracking depends upon the structure of the polymers and it can be effectively slowed down by
adding appropriate fillers to the polymer which inhibit carbonization. Moisture is not essential to
tracking. The conducting path may arise from metallic dust; for example, in oil-immersed equipment
with moving parts which gradually wear and deposit on the surface.
Fig. 7.6. 2D carbonized electrical trees (or tracking) across the surface of a polycarbonate plate that
was part of a trigatron. These partially conducting paths ultimately led to premature breakdown and
operational failure of the device. Source: wikipedia

5 Thermal breakdown
When an insulation is stressed, because of conduction currents and dielectric losses due to
polarization, heat is continuously generated within the dielectric. When temperature increases, the
conductivity also increases and this results in a further increase in heat generation. Conditions of
instability are reached when the rate of heating exceeds the rate of cooling and the specimen may
undergo thermal breakdown.

6 Erosion breakdown
Practical insulation systems often contain cavities or voids within the dielectric material or on
boundaries between the solid and the electrodes. These cavities are usually filled with a medium
(gas or liquid) of lower breakdown strength than the solid. Moreover, the permittivity of the filling
medium is frequently lower than that of the solid insulation, which causes the field intensity in the
cavity to be higher than in the dielectric. Accordingly, under normal working stress of the insulation
system the voltage across the cavity may exceed the breakdown value and may initiate breakdown
in the void.
When the gas in the cavity breaks down, the surfaces of the insulation provide instantaneous
cathode and anode. Some of the electrons impinging upon the anode are sufficiently energetic to
break the chemical bonds of the insulation surface. Similarly, bombardment of the cathode by
positive ions may cause damage by increasing the surface temperature and produce local thermal
instability. Additional chemical degradation may result from active discharge products, e.g. O 3 or
NO2, formed in air which may cause deterioration. Whatever is the deterioration mechanism
operating, the net effect is a slow erosion of the material and a consequent reduction of the
breakdown strength of the solid insulation.