Observation of localized heating phenomena during microwave heating of mixed powders using in situ x-ray diffraction technique

摘要

In materials processing research using microwave heating, there have been several observations of various phenomena occurring known as microwave effects. One significant example of such a phenomenon is increased reaction kinetics. It is believed that there is a possibility that this might be caused by localized heating, were some reactants would attain a higher than apparent temperature. To examine whether such thermal gradients are indeed possible, mixed powders of two microwave non-absorbers, alumina and magnesia, were mixed with graphite, a known absorber, and heated in a microwave furnace. During microwave irradiation, the local temperatures of the respective sample constituents were measured using an in situ x-ray diffraction technique. In the case of the alumina and graphite sample, a temperature difference of around 100 °C could be observed.