page_title: Electrolytic capacitor
section_title: Lifetime
hierarchical_section_title: Electrolytic capacitor / Operational characteristics / Lifetime
caption_attribution_description: English: Test results of a lifetime test from electrolytic capacitors as explanation of wear out failures
context_page_description: An electrolytic capacitor is a polarized capacitor whose anode or positive plate is made of a metal that forms an insulating oxide layer through anodization. This oxide layer acts as the dielectric of the capacitor. A solid, liquid, or gel electrolyte covers the surface of this oxide layer, serving as the cathode or negative plate of the capacitor. Due to their very thin dielectric oxide layer and enlarged anode surface, electrolytic capacitors have a much higher capacitance-voltage product per unit volume than ceramic capacitors or film capacitors, and so can have large capacitance values. There are three families of electrolytic capacitor: aluminum electrolytic capacitors, tantalum electrolytic capacitors, and niobium electrolytic capacitors.
  The large capacitance of electrolytic capacitors makes them particularly suitable for passing or bypassing low-frequency signals, and for storing large amounts of energy. They are widely used for decoupling or noise filtering in power supplies and DC link circuits for variable-frequency drives, for coupling signals between amplifier stages, and storing energy as in a flashlamp.
context_section_description: The lifetime, service life, load life or useful life of electrolytic capacitors is a special characteristic of non-solid aluminum electrolytic capacitors, whose liquid electrolyte can evaporate over time. Lowering the electrolyte level influences the electrical parameters of the capacitors. The capacitance decreases and the impedance and ESR increase with decreasing amounts of electrolyte. This very slow electrolyte drying-out depends on the temperature, the applied ripple current load, and the applied voltage. The lower these parameters compared with their maximum values the longer the capacitor's “life”. The “end of life” point is defined by the appearance of wear-out failures or degradation failures when either capacitance, impedance, ESR or leakage current exceed their specified change limits.
  The lifetime is a specification of a collection of tested capacitors and delivers an expectation of the behavior of similar types. This lifetime definition corresponds with the time of the constant random failure rate in the bathtub curve.
  But even after exceeding the specified limits and the capacitors having reached their “end of life” the electronic circuit is not in immediate danger; only the functionality of the capacitors is reduced. With today's high levels of purity in the manufacture of electrolytic capacitors it is not to be expected that short circuits occur after the end-of-life-point with progressive evaporation combined with parameter degradation.
  The lifetime of non-solid aluminum electrolytic capacitors is specified in terms of “hours per temperature", like "2,000h/105 °C". With this specification the lifetime at operational conditions can be estimated by special formulas or graphs specified in the data sheets of serious manufacturers. They use different ways for specification, some give special formulas, others specify their e-caps lifetime calculation with graphs that consider the influence of applied voltage. Basic principle for calculating the time under operational conditions is the so-called “10-degree-rule”.
  This rule is also known as Arrhenius rule. It characterizes the change of thermic reaction speed. For every 10 °C lower temperature the evaporation is reduced by half. That means for every 10 °C lower temperature the lifetime of capacitors doubles. If a lifetime specification of an electrolytic capacitor is, for example, 2000  h/105 °C, the capacitor's lifetime at 45 °C can be ”calculated” as 128,000 hours—that is roughly 15 years—by using the 10-degrees-rule.
  However, solid polymer electrolytic capacitors, aluminum as well as tantalum and niobium electrolytic capacitors also have a lifetime specification. The polymer electrolyte has a small deterioration of conductivity caused by a thermal degradation mechanism in the conductive polymer. The electrical conductivity decreases as a function of time, in agreement with a granular metal type structure, in which aging is due to the shrinking of the conductive polymer grains. The lifetime of polymer electrolytic capacitors is specified in terms similar to non-solid e-caps but its lifetime calculation follows other rules, leading to much longer operational lifetimes.
  Tantalum electrolytic capacitors with solid manganese dioxide electrolyte do not have wear-out failures so they do not have a lifetime specification in the sense of non-solid aluminum electrolytic capacitors. Also, tantalum capacitors with non-solid electrolyte, the "wet tantalums", do not have a lifetime specification because they are hermetically sealed and evaporation of electrolyte is minimized.
caption: The electrical values of aluminum electrolytic capacitors with non-solid electrolyte change over time due to evaporation of electrolyte. Reaching the specified limits of the electrical parameters, the time of the constant failure rate ends and it is the end of the capacitor's lifetime. The graph show this behavior in a 2000 h endurance test at 105 °C.
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