Q&A Corner : Answer

How can I estimate the life of ceramic capacitors?

Considering the life of ceramic capacitors(*1), the applied voltage and the ambient temperature greatly affect to it in general. The following equation(*2) expressed by the applied voltage and the temperature is usually used to estimate the life. After determining the acceleration factor by the acceleration test at an arbitrary temperature and voltage, the life can be estimated by putting your volage and temperature condition into the formula.(*3)

The temperature acceleration factor(θ) and the voltage acceleration factor(n) described here are determined experimentally and different in each product. For example, when the product with the temperature acceleration factor 8 and voltage acceleration factor 4 has a 1000 hour(L2) life in the acceleration test at 20V(V2) and 85℃(T2), the life(L1) at 8V(V1) and 45℃(T1) is roughly estimated as follows by using this formula.

*1 A life end is judged generally based on the degradation of the insulation resistance.
*2 Because of a simple equation, the life of each product cannot be calculated accurately.
*3 The life of each product calculated with this formula is not guaranteed. Please ask us a concrete life of each product.