ceramic capacitor 1

This is an optical image of the capacitor showing the part number.

ceramic capacitor 2

This is the section after final polish. Note the lack of a solder fillet between the right side termination and the lead.

ceramic capacitor 3

This is a BSE SEM image of the section. These anomalies are parallel in the plane of the capacitor plates (i.e. knit line defects) raising a question about the “as-sintered” strength of the structure.

ceramic capacitor 4

This fracture shows characteristics of thermal shock damage, possibly during attachment of the device leads to the capacitor end caps.

ceramic capacitor 5

This fracture traverses capacitor plates of opposite polarity, which typically results in a shorted capacitor. The fracture appears to propagate from a knit line defect suggesting the root cause is related to the original firing of the multilayer ceramic element.

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