Abstract:
A method of making low avalanche metal oxide varistors is described. Metal oxide powders are isostatically pressed to form a rod. The rod is fired, and then sliced into a plurality of discs. Electrodes are applied to the major faces of the discs, to produce discrete varistors. Thinner discs can be made by this technique than can be made by uniaxially pressing discrete discs, to get lower avalanche voltages. Also, comparative data is presented showing that varistors from slices of this isostatically pressed rod inherently have lower avalanche voltages than uniaxially pressed discrete disc varistors.