Microwave heating of electrically conductive materials (original) (raw)

Contributions Regarding the Processing of Dielectric Materials in a Microwave Field

The paper includes the main results obtained in the domain of the processing of dielectric materials in a microwave field. It has the character of an applicative research, the obtained results being of practical use, with the main purpose of optimizing the functioning of some heating devices in a microwave field.This analysis is efficient but it implies the exact knowledge of the dielectric and thermal properties of the material that is to be processed, and also the dependence of these properties on the temperature. The main problem we follow is represented by the homogeneity of the field and, consequently, of the temperature in the material.

Radically different effects on materials by separated microwave electric and magnetic fields

Materials Research Innovations, 2002

Using a 2.45 GHz wave-guided cavity, in a single mode TE 103 excitation, we were able to physically locate compacted 5 mm pellets of samples separately at the H (magnetic) node (where the E field is nearly zero), or the E (electric) node (where H field is nearly zero). A preliminary survey of a variety of metals, (Cu, Fe, Co..) ceramics (ZnO, etc.), and composites, (WC-Co, ZnO-Co) showed remarkable differences in their heating behaviors. The results establish conclusively that the magnetic field interaction contributes greatly to microwave heating of common materials in a manner, previously neglected in most theories of microwave heating, albeit still to be understood.

Finite element analysis of microwave heating of solid products

International communications in heat and mass …, 2000

In this paper, the electric field distribution obtained from solving Maxwell's equations was coupled to the energy equation to predict the temperature distribution during microwave heating of solids. The effect of sample rotation was incorporated to the model. Simulation runs showed that rotation of the sample results in a more uniform temperature distribution. In small samples, heating was more pronounced

Numerical Analysis of Heat Transfer Characteristics in Microwave Heating of Magnetic Dielectrics

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 2011

A numerical simulation of heat transfer during the microwave heating process of magnetite, which is a two-dimensional (2-D) magnetic dielectric, subjected to heat conduction, convection, and radiation was performed. The heat transfer process was modeled using an explicit finitedifference approach, and the temperature profiles for different heating parameters were generated through developing a code in Mathematica 7.0 (Wolfram Research, Inc., Champaign, IL). The temperature in the sample increases rapidly in 1 minute and nonuniform temperature distribution inside the object is observed. An obvious temperature hot spot is formed in the corner of the predicted temperature profile initially, which shifts to the center of the object as heating power increases. Microwave heating at 915 MHz exhibits better heating uniformity than 2450 MHz mainly because of the larger microwave penetration depth. It is also observed that the heating homogeneity in the object can be improved by reducing the dimension of object. The effects of heating time, microwave power, microwave frequency, and object dimension need to be considered to obtain high heating performance and avoid/minimize thermal runaway resulting from temperature nonuniformity in large-scale microwave heating.

Chapter 3. Microwave Theory and Background

In conventional thermal demagnetisation heat is applied to a sample which creates lattice vibrations (phonons). These phonons are in a higher energy state than the surrounding magnetic system so they exchange energy with the magnetic system, and spin waves (magnons) are created (Walton et al., 1992; 1993). The generation of spin waves within the magnetic grains enables the individual domain magnetisations to reverse and thus demagnetise in zero field (Walton, 1986) or to realign with an ambient fixed field to produce a TRM. In microwave demagnetisation / remagnetisation, the first steps are bypassed; magnons are directly excited with the use of high frequency microwaves thus eliminating the need to heat the bulk samp le. Some heating of the bulk sample does occur due to the generation of phonons in the relaxation process but to a much lesser extent than in conventional heating.

Coupled thermal-electromagnetic model for microwave heating of temperature-dependent dielectric media

IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, 1999

Microwave heating processes involve electromagnetic and thermal effects coupled together through the local temperature dependence of the material dielectric properties. This paper presents a one-dimensional model for the coupled electromagnetic-thermal process and demonstrates its solutions for typical problems. The local temperature dependence of the lossy dielectric medium is taken into account in two different time scales. One is the heat-generation time scale due the microwave radiation, and the other is the temperature diffusion time scale. The two timescale approach minimizes the computation time and provides an efficient simulation tool for the analysis of various phenomena. The two-scale model presented in this paper is benchmarked by a comparison of its numerical results with other models published in the literature. Several examples of microwave heating processes in various materials are simulated. Effects of heatwave propagation in matter are predicted by the model. The results show the temporal and spatial evolution of the temperature and power-dissipation profiles. Variations in the (microwave) impedance profile in the medium due to the heating are computed. A further development of this model, including more complicated geometries and various loss mechanisms, may yield useful numerical tools for the synthesis and design of microwave heaters in which the heated material acts as a nonlinear load in the microwave circuit.