Power loss transition of stable ZnO varistor ceramics: Role of oxygen adsorption on the stability of interface states at the grain boundary

Highly stable ZnO varistor ceramics with steadily decreasing power loss have been put into applications in electrical and electronic systems for overvoltage protections, even with the absence of general understandings on their aging behaviors. In this paper, we investigated their aging nature via conducting comparative direct current (DC) aging experiments both in air and in nitrogen, during which variations of electrical properties and interface properties were measured and analyzed. Notably, continuously increasing power loss with severe electrical degradation was observed for the sample aged in nitrogen. The power loss transition was discovered to be closely related to the consumption of oxygen adsorption at the grain boundary (GB), which could, however, remain constant for the sample aged in air. The interface density of states (DOS) Ni, which is crucial for pinning the potential barrier, was proved to decrease in nitrogen, but keep stable in air. Therefore, it is concluded that the oxygen adsorption at the GB is significant for the stability of interface states, which further correlates to the long-term stability of modern stable ZnO varistor ceramics.

Influence of grain size on distribution of temperature and thermal stress in ZnO varistor ceramics

The nonuniformity of temperature distribution within ZnO varistor ceramics would decrease its energy absorption capability. In this paper, the distributions of current, temperature and thermal stress within the microstructures of ZnO varistor ceramics are simulated using Voronoi diagram models. The results show that the current concentrates through a few paths in ZnO varistor due to the nonuniformity of ZnO grain size and the variety of electrical characteristics of grain boundaries, which induces local high temperature and great thermal stress when injecting impulse current into ZnO varistor, and leads to melting puncture or cracking failure. The influence of the ZnO grain size on the distributions of temperature and thermal stress within ZnO varistor ceramics is analyzed in detail. The energy absorption capability of ZnO varistor ceramics can be greatly improved by increasing the uniformity of ZnO grain size or decreasing the average size of ZnO grains.

Effect of sintering temperature on microstructure and nonlinear electrical characteristics of ZnO varistor

The nonlinear properties of ZBMCCS-based varistors,which are composed of ZnO-Bi_(2)O_(3)-MnO_(2)-Cr_(2)O_(3)-Sb_(2)O_(3)-Co_(3)O_(4) and SiO_(2) are studied inrelation to sintering temperature,in the range of 1280–1350℃.The samples are investigated for grain morphology by using scanning electron microscope(SEM).These samples were examined by using X-ray diffraction patterns(XRD)and DC electrical measurements.X-ray diffraction analysis of the samples show the presence of ZnO,Zn_(2)SiO_(4) willemite phase and Co_(2.33)Sb_(0.67)O_(4) spinel phases.The average grain size of ZnO increased as the sintering temperature increased from 2.57 to 6.84
m.In the examined temperature range,the breakdown field decreased from 2992 to 127 V/cm with the increase of sintering temperature.This system gives a relatively high nonlinearity coefficientα=33.61(at a sintering temperature of 1280℃)with a low leakage current of 0.21 mA/cm^(2).