IGBT damaged while discharging Capacitor

[Learning_goal]

I am working on a circuit which discharges a capacitor charged to around 400 volts using a IGBT (acting as a switch) through a soleniod coil connected to a plunger to dissipate energy mechanically. The IGBT used is FGA25n 120. L293D motordriver is used with a microcontroller to provide gate voltage of 12 volts whenever microcontroller gives high to the L293D. When I tested the circuit for charge of 170 volts and it worked fine, but for 300 volts the IGBT got damaged.I'm unable to figure out the reasons, please help me to know the possible reasons.

 

[mtwieg]

What kind of energy/current/duration are you talking about? It could be that the peak current is just too much for the IGBT to handle. Also it could be inductive kickback from the coil which causes huge overvoltage transients.