Varistor Electrical Properties:
a Voronoi network in which the ZnO grains are
Microstructural Effects
Zinc oxide varistor ceramics are used in surge arresters
that protect electrical equipment and electronics from
overvoltages caused by lightning and switching tran-
sients. These remarkable ceramics limit (arrest) volt-
age surges by rapidly decreasing their resistance by as
much as 12 orders of magnitude when the applied
voltage increases beyond a safe limit. Varistors (vari-
able resistors) are functionally similar to back-to-back
Zener diodes, but they operate at much higher power
levels.
Varistors are grain-boundary-barrier devices that
are understood at the microscopic level of barrier
physics (Levinson and Philipp 1986, Blatter and
Greuter 1990). At low voltages, grain boundaries are
highly resistive, but for voltages that exceed about 3 V
per grain-boundary barrier, the current increases
rapidly and can be described by the empirical power
law I $ IoV α, where the nonlinearity coefficient α can
be 50 or higher. The rapid increase of current occurs
when the electrical field becomes sufficient to produce
impact ionization and generate minority carriers that
get trapped in the grain boundaries, causing a barrier
collapse that is often described as breakdown.
Varistor ceramics are random electrical networks
comprised of large numbers of both ohmic and
nonlinear elements with varying characteristics. Such
complexity obscures the relationships between macro-
scopic properties of a varistor ceramic and the micro-
scopic properties of its grain boundaries, and it is
necessary to comprehend current percolation on ran-
dom networks of nonlinear electrical elements to
understand the electrical properties of the ceramics at
a macroscopic level.
Measurements of electrical and thermal properties
have been made on both microscopic and macroscopic
scales to provide the basis for an emerging statistical
understanding of varistors. Also, varistor microstruc-
tures have been simulated on computers, although
simulations on a realistic scale are unfeasible because
varistors are 3D random networks of nonlinear
electrical elements that typically number in billions.
The simulations have been limited to 2D random
networks of about a thousand elements, but they,
nevertheless, provide an understanding of the relation-
ships between macroscopic and microscopic
properties of varistor ceramics.
1. Statistical Models of Varistor Microstructure
One model of varistor microstructure assumes a non-
random square lattice—‘‘building block model’’—
of interconnected electrical elements with randomly
assigned nonlinear characteristics (Clarke 1999). A
more realistic—but still only 2D—model that captures
the granular disorder of a ceramic is provided by
represented by space-filling polygons of different sizes
and shapes with a variable number of neighbors (Wang
et al. 1998, Modine et al. 1999). The polygons represent
grains and shared edges represent grain boundaries.
Microstructural disorder is simulated by introducing
randomness into the hexagonal cell structure of an
initially perfect lattice. An example of a disordered
Voronoi lattice is shown in Fig. 1.
Voronoi networks comprised of only a few types of
elements provide a realistic simulation of varistor
characteristics. Polygon boundaries can be randomly
assigned one of three characteristics: (i) ‘‘good’’
barriers, (ii) ‘‘bad’’ barriers, or (iii) ohmic barriers. A
good barrier has high leakage resistance and high
nonlinearity (α
30). A bad barrier has 2–3 orders of
magnitude lower leakage resistance and a low coef-
ficient of nonlinearity (α $ 10). An ohmic barrier has
a linear resistance much lower than the low-voltage
resistance of good barriers. The electrical character-
istics of each of these barrier types are shown in Fig. 2,
and each type has been identified in measurements
made on the individual grain boundaries of varistor
ceramics. Typical commercial varistors contain about
35% bad and 5% ohmic barriers.
The electrical characteristics of a Voronoi network
can be calculated by using numerical methods to solve
the Kirchoff equations at a granular level
lijJ(VikVj) l 0 (1)
j
where the index j runs over the grains that are
neighbors of grain i, lij is the length of the edge shared
by grains i and j, and the current density J(VikVj) is
determined from the characteristics of the barrier type
assumed to be between the grains i and j. A potential
is applied between the grains at the bottom and the top
of the network, and the calculations are iterated to self
consistency.
Voronoi simulations predict that current percolates
preferentially over one or more of the barrier types,
depending upon the type concentrations, the amount
of disorder, and the applied voltage. At low voltages,
a network exhibits an ohmic prebreakdown region in
which current flows almost uniformly. But in the
region of barrier breakdown, the current localizes
along the paths having the fewest barriers between the
electrodes. An example of current localization in
Voronoi networks is shown in Fig. 1. At high voltages
all the barrier characteristics become linear (see Fig.
2), so a network enters an ohmic ‘‘upturn’’ region in
which the current is again uniformly distributed.
By varying the concentrations of good, bad, and
ohmic barriers as well as the granular disorder,
Voronoi simulations reproduce and explain the varia-
tions in breakdown field, nonlinearity, and shapes of
I–V characteristics that have been observed in real
1
Varistor Electrical Properties: Microstructural Effects
Figure 1
Voronoi simulation of varistor microstructure. Dark
shading indicates high current density on a highly localized
path.
Figure 2
Electrical characteristics of basic types of grain-boundary
barriers. The corresponding coefficients of nonlinearity α
are shown in the inset.
Figure 3
IR image of a thin varistor slice taken during a current
pulse. The lighter areas are hotter.
ceramics (Bartkowiak et al. 1996). Current localization
occurs if both electrical nonlinearity and statistical
disorder (variations in grain size and barrier voltage)
are present. The breakdown voltage of a Voronoi
2
network decreases as the grain size variability
increases. This explains experimental measurements
that show a difference between the breakdown voltage
of individual barriers and the breakdown voltage per
barrier inferred from the breakdown voltage of the
ceramic and its average grain size (3.3 V compared
with 2.5 V). However, variations in grain size have no
significant effect on nonlinearity, and a low non-
linearity coefficient can be simulated only by including
‘‘bad’’ barriers. Other features such as inflected I–V
characteristics and local maxima in the nonlinearity
coefficient in the prebreakdown region of small var-
istor samples can be simulated only by including
ohmic barriers.
2. Experimental Observation of Nonuniform
Varistor Currents in Small Varistors
An IR camera allows the current in varistor ceramics
to be observed as Joule heating (Wang et al. 1998,
Modine et al. 1999). Figure 3 is an IR micrograph
showing heating along localized current paths in a
varistor. The remarkable similarity of Fig. 3 to the
theoretical predictions of Fig. 1 was obtained by
closely matching the 2D geometry of the Voronoi
modeling; a varistor was polished down to the thick-
ness of about its grain size. Current paths are visible as
hot spots that appear where voltage is dropped across
grain-boundary barriers. During 1 ms pulses, the
temperature at these barriers rises above that of the
grain interiors.
3. Influence Of Size on Current Localization Due to
Microstructural Disorder
Current localization due to microstructural disorder is
most severe in small varistors. This difference between
large and small varistors has not been seen in computer
simulations because only small simulations are trac-
table. But the influence of varistor size on current
localization is roughly understood (Modine et al.
1999). Localization occurs because the current flows
preferentially on paths that have either fewer grains or
lower barrier voltages. If the distributions of grain size
and barrier voltage are narrow, and a varistor is in the
breakdown region so that the current is described by
I $ IoV α, the variances and the averages of the
distributions are related:
σI α
A E
σd
G
#
E
σv
G
# C "/#
l j b (2)
Ia Ǹ"/# B F
d̀ H F
Š` b H D
where σI\IF , σd\d- , and σv \Š- b are the ratios of the
variance to the average of bthe current, the grain size,
and the barrier-voltage distributions, respectively. The

ratio σI\IF measures the extent of current localization,
and it increases with the nonlinearity coefficient α and
decreases in proportion to the inverse square root of
N, the number of grain-boundary barriers. There is
less current localization in large, high-voltage varistors
because N is large (VF l NVb). Clearly, the current
localization is negligible if σI\IF  1, a condition that is
satisfied for N sufficiently large:
A E
σd #
G E
σv
G
#C
N  α# j b
B F
d̀ H F
Šb H D
For example, if σd\d- l 0.1  σv \Š- b and α l 50, then
N  25 will result in minimal bcurrent localization
because of grain size variations. High-voltage varistors
have thousands of barriers on each current path, so
current localization due to statistical variations in the
grain size is insignificant.
4. Nonuniform Currents in Large Varistors
Large varistors exhibit nonuniform current flow, but
the nonuniformity is on a macroscopic scale rather
than on a microscopic scale, and it largely results from
imperfect ceramic processing. Figure 4 shows an IR
image of the surface temperature of a 4.2 cm varistor
block that was heated by a current pulse of 1 ms
duration. The heating is greatest near the circum-
ference of the block, and the high symmetry of the
heating is obviously associated with the fabrication
process and not with any statistical disorder. The
current flows preferentially near the periphery of
the block where the grain size is slightly larger and the
breakdown voltage lower. Friction in the die used for
powder compaction and rapid grain growth at the
block periphery during sintering can contribute to
Figure 4
IR image of the surface temperature generated by a
current pulse through a varistor block with a low aspect
ratio. The strip at the upper right is an electrical contact.
Varistor Electrical Properties: Microstructural Effects
such nonuniformity. Uniformity is especially import-
ant in varistor ceramics because large variations in the
current result from small variations in the breakdown
voltage whenever the conduction is highly nonlinear.
Large varistor blocks become more nonuniform as
their size increases. Figure 4 was obtained using a
block fabricated with a 1 cm thickness; it is more
difficult to obtain uniformity, or radial symmetry, in
blocks fabricated with a high aspect ratio.
(3)
5. Varistor Failures
Ceramic processing can produce small varistors with
low aspect ratios that have good uniformity on a
macroscopic scale, but granular disorder causes cur-
rent localization on a microscopic scale. However,
heat transfer on the microscopic scale of the grain size
is so fast that the temperature difference between grain
boundaries and grain interiors never exceeds about
35 mC, even for severe current pulses. Hence, non-
uniform heating on a microscopic scale is not a
significant cause of varistor failures. In large varistors,
statistical disorder is of little consequence, but macro-
scopic nonuniformities that originate in ceramic pro-
cessing lead to nonuniform current flow and therefore
nonuniform heating. This nonuniform heating on a
macroscopic scale causes most varistor failures. There
are three common failures: (i) Thermal runaway
occurs when a varistor is heated above its temperature
of stability. (ii) Puncture occurs at localized spots with
lower breakdown voltages than their surroundings.
Typically, a hole appears when a spot heats to above
800 mC and local melting of the Bi O phase occurs. (iii)
Cracking occurs if the nonuniform # $ heating generates
thermal stresses in excess of the failure stress. The
energy handling, i.e., energy absorbed before failure,
of varistors is typically about 500 J cm−$, but it is
greater for both low-current, long-duration pulses and
high-current, short-duration pulses. The energy hand-
ling capacity is least in the breakdown region where
the current tends to localize.
The failure modes of varistors can be interpreted
using thermomechanical models (Modine et al. 1999,
Bartkowiak et al. 1999). The Joule heating is described
by the diffusion equation:
E G
c#Th 1 cTh JF cTh
D(Th) j j l (4)
cr# r cr K H ct
F !
where D(Th) is the thermal diffusivity and K is the
!
thermal conductivity at 20 mC. The driving force for
the failures is a current density J that increases
exponentially with temperature when the field F is
applied. The temperature dependence of the thermal
conductivity K(T ) can be included in a scaled tem-
perature Th that varies in proportion to K(T ). The
heat dissipation can be assumed to be convection
3
Varistor Electrical Properties: Microstructural Effects

through a side wall to air at 20 mC; this boundary

condition gives no account for arrester design or
environment, but the results are insensitive to it.
Cylindrical symmetry can be retained by assuming
that a hot spot extends through the block at its center.
The intensity of a hot spot can be described by its
breakdown voltage Fbhs relative to the breakdown
voltage of the surrounding material: p l
(FbkFbhs)\Fb. Hot spot intensities are typically
3–10%, but the current flowing through such spots
may be more than 100 times that in the rest of a disk.
The thermal stresses can be computed from the
temperature profile of a varistor disk and its time
evolution. The stresses caused by a nonuniform
temperature T(r) are:
Figure 5

&! & !rhT(rh)drh

E G
γY 1 R 1 r Simulated and measured energy-handling capabilities of
Srr(r) l rhT(rh)drhk station-class-arrester disks. Energy handling is determined
1kν F
R# r# H by which failure occurs first. Test results as well as the
(5) symbols and manufacturer codes are those of Ringler et al.
(1997).

& ! rhT(rh)drhjr1#
E
γY 1 R
Sθθ(r) l
1kν R#
F
&
G
r
i rhT(rh)drhkT(r)
! H
Szz(r) l Srr(r)jSθθ(r)
The radial, tangential, and axial stresses are denoted
Srr, Sθθ, and Szz, respectively. The thermal expansion
coefficient, Young’s modulus, and Poisson’s ratio are
denoted as γ, Y, and ν. The disks in station-class
arresters typically have an aspect ratio 1, and
thermal stresses in the axial direction are negligible, so
ν can be set to zero. The strength of varistor ceramics
strongly depends on the presence of flaws, and other
factors that vary, but a typical tensile strength is Sft l
20 kpsi. Cracking in tension is predicted when the
thermal tensile stress exceeds Sft, and puncture is
predicted when the temperature of a hot spot exceeds
800 mC.
Representative results of thermomechanical model-
ing of the varistor disks used in station-class arresters
are shown in Fig. 5, together with experimentally
determined values of the energy needed to cause a
failure (Ringler et al. 1997). The disks are 23 mm high
and 63 mm in diameter, and they have electrical
characteristics typical of high-voltage varistors: non-
linearity coefficient, α $ 50; breakdown field,
Fb $ 1870 V cm−" at 1 mA cm#; and prebreakdown
and upturn resistivities of ρpb $ 5i10"" and
ρup $ 1 ohm cm, respectively. A hot spot was assumed
to have a 1.2 cm diameter and an intensity of 5%. At
low currents, the only predicted failure mode (besides
thermal runaway) is puncture, which is consistent with
test results. Above 600 A, however, the tangential
stresses become higher than the strength of the varistor
ceramic before the temperature at the hot spot reaches
(6) 800 mC, so the disks crack along lines branching out
from the hot spots. Cracking remains the likely failure
mode for a 4 kA pulse. However, for a peak current
pulse of 35 kA, the heating becomes more uniform,
(7) and the stresses are no longer high enough to cause
cracking. Varistors of some manufacturers show a dip
in their energy absorption capability at 600 A which
agrees with the cracking predictions. Alternatively, the
puncture predictions are in good agreement with data
on varistors from a manufacturer that apparently
produces stronger disks.
The supposition that failures in station-class arrester
disks can be modeled by assuming a 1.2 cm diameter
hot spot with intensity p l 5% is supported by the
good agreement between modeling and experimental
results. However, the failure predictions change as the
disk size changes and as the hot spots vary in size and
intensity. For low-intensity hot spots, only puncture is
predicted. Puncture also is more likely in disks with a
low aspect ratio and when a current pulse has an
intermediate value. Cracking becomes more likely as
the degree of nonuniformity increases. As the intensity
of a hot spot increases, both puncture and cracking
occur at lower current. The energy handling depends
only weakly on the diameter of a hot spot, but there is
a tendency for smaller hot spots to lead to puncture
and for larger spots to lead to cracking. Cracking
dominates at high current densities and also for disks
with high aspect ratio. Puncture and cracking are less
likely when the current is uniformly distributed.
Hence, for very low and very high current densities,
the most likely failure is thermal runaway. However,
cracking may occur even when the current is uniformly
distributed. Because the thermal expansion caused by
short pulses is limited by inertia, particularly in tall
disks, a compressional shock wave can be generated

4
 Varistor Electrical Properties: Microstructural Effects

that reflects from the disk ends and peaks in a central
plane where it can cause cracking (Clarke 1999).
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Encyclopedia of Materials : Science and Technology
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