Electrical overvoltage, inadequate heat dissipation, and poor solder connections are other common causes of burning ceramic capacitors. Particularly ceramic capacitors that are soldered onto assemblies are susceptible to cracks.
Ceramic Capacitors: While generally robust, they can crack under mechanical stress or extreme temperature changes, leading to failure. Reduced Performance: A failing capacitor can lead to reduced efficiency in power supply circuits, leading to instability in the performance of the electronic device.
Ceramic capacitors may catch fire for various reasons. Mechanical stresses such as bending and torsional forces can cause cracks in the ceramic material, which may then lead to short circuits and overheating. Electrical overvoltage, inadequate heat dissipation, and poor solder connections are other common causes of burning ceramic capacitors.
Was just curious as to what conditions a ceramic capacitor would blow up. Ceramic capacitors (expecially older types) suffer from micro-cracking. Any mechanical or thermal stress can cause them to crack internally allowing conductive parts to meet, where they should be isolated.
Even slight bending and especially torsional forces can quickly lead to cracks and subsequently to fires. Often, burning ceramic capacitors are underrated in the electronics industry although they may pose a substantial problem. RoodMicrotec offers effective solutions for this problem.
At 10uF you can successfully use a ceramic capacitor (perhaps it will be a bit bigger) and avoid the ignition issue. You may have to use 15uF or 22uF to actually get 10uF at the working voltage, especially if you choose a relatively small capacitor that is rated for close to 5V.