Figure 4.9 Temperature versus time for Fe-Cr18-Ni10 alloy (reproduced from [6] with kind
permission of Springer Science and Business Media)
increase significantly with increasing frequency if the mode is near cutoff. The higher the
mode order near cutoff, the larger the attenuation coefficient, indicating that the shape and
size of powdered metals has a direct effect on the microwave heating [18].
From their calculations, the heating rate and conversion efficiency are dependent on
whether the operating mode is near or far from cutoff. The heating rate and conversion
efficiency are low when the mode is far from cutoff. A higher heating rate and conversion
efficiency are observed at higher frequencies near cutoff.
Experimental verification was carried out by the authors to compare the heating rate of
powdered Fe metal and an Fe alloy (Fe-Cr18-Ni10) using a 30 GHz, 10 kW gyrotron
system of 0.47 m in diameter with the theoretical predictions. For the Fe alloy, the model
was able to predict the rate of increase in temperature of the alloy for the initial 2 to 3
minutes but the experimental values started to deviate from the theoretical predictions
after that, as shown in Figure 4.9. The authors attribute the deviation to heat conduction
within the metallic rod, which is not considered in the theory, and also absorption of
microwave power by the insulation, which may reduce the heat conversion efficiency
during the heating process.
For the second experiment on powdered Fe with a preset heating rate of 300 C/min, it
was observed that there is good agreement between the experimental results and theoretical
predictions, as shown in Figure 4.10. Due to the complexities and assumptions made in the
calculations involved as well as limitations of the model in application to larger microwave
cavities and sample sizes, much further work on improving the model is warranted.
However, the salient point of this study clearly demonstrates the ability of microwaves to
heat powdered metal compacts.
4.2.5 Proposed Microwave Sintering Model by Rybakov et al.
Another theoretical model proposed by Rybakov et al. [19, 20] considers the electrically
conductive powder particles being covered by insulating oxide layers using the effective
medium approximation. The effective conductivity of the powder compact for an electrically