Theoretical and numerical analyses on multi-layered ceramic capacitors due to high pressure and elevated temperature

The manufacturing process may cause the deformation and internal defects in multi-layered ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) that result in the malfunction of applications. This work aims to investigate the deformation of MLCCs that are composed of nearly a hundred of BaTiO3 and Ni electrode films interleaved and stacked due to high pressure at elevated temperature.On theoretical analysis, classical laminated plate theory, linear elastic assumptions and equilibrium equations were adopted. Associated with the practical process three types of boundary conditions (BCs) were used, such as all edges simple-supported, two edges simple-supported and the other two free, and four edges free. Also, two more conditions need to be added, including four fixed points at corners and the elastic foundation at bottom. As for the numerical simulation the finite element method (FEM) incorporated with software ANSYS was used to obtain the displacement field of MLCCs to validate the analytical prediction. Compared with the numerical results the analytical solutions were found satisfactorily acceptable, i.e., the errors were about 0.1%–6.2% for the BCs of four edges free and four corners fixed. The errors about 0.13%–6.15% were also acceptable for the BCs of two edges simple-supported and the others free. However, the analytical solution for the case of all the edges simple-supported did not agree well with the numerical results. Finally, the achieved analytical methodology offers another choice of handling MLCCs theoretically without using the numerical simulation methods incorporated with commercial softwares, such as FEM and ANSYS, to analyze a nearly and over hundred layered MLCCs.

► The material properties of both films without phase changes were obtained by tests.
► The MLCCs were fixed on the steel plate due to high pressure and temperature.
► It is combined with a simply supported laminated plate and balanced by force method.
► The prediction of deflection and stress fields was theoretically accomplished.
► The results were validated numerically by FEM and ANSYS in very small errors.