Electrically and thermally activated ageing mechanisms in metallised polymer film capacitors

This dissertation describes a combined computational and experimental study to understand the fundamental electrostatic, thermal, electromagnetic, and discharge related processes during the ageing of metallised polymer film capacitors. In the event of internal breakdowns, these capacitors are capable of "self-healing" through a controlled isolation of defects on the electrode surfaces by mosaic patterning the electrode. The objective of this project is to develop viable computer models to unravel electrothermally activated ageing processes in capacitors. To provide the necessary validation to any capacitor models developed, our work is supported by comprehensive experiments including industrial standard accelerated life tests and associated breakdown damage analyses of tested capacitors. [Continues.]