A SYMMETRICAL CAVITY THAT SAVES ENERGY DURING MICROWAVE PROCESSING OFMATERIALS

Successful microwave sintering of materials requires knowledge of both the evolution of the materials' properties and aspects of the electro magnetic fields during the microwave processing. The use of a symmetri c cavity, where both the coupling iris and the tuning plunger are move d symmetrically, allows samples to be located at the specific electrom agnetic field position for optimal heating (that is, dielectric materi als can be heated at a maximum of the electric field while conducting materials can be heated at a maximum of the magnetic field). This type of cavity utilizes significantly less energy compared to the standard disymmetric cavities. Using TE103 double left right arrow TE102, opti mal heating control can be achieved even if a material exhibits a cros sover in the heating mechanism during processing due to the very fast switching of resonance modes. This article discusses the details of th e microwave device and results obtained for the sintering of CuO and B aTiO3.