engleski

A Review of Microwave-Assisted Sintering Technique

The present study reviews the potential of microwave heating as an emerging and innovative energy-efficient alternative to conventional heating techniques used for different materials, with a highlight on the ceramic materials processing. Modern ceramics are being largely studied, and their use and different applications are continuously increasing thanks to many advantages that ceramic materials possess. The most important factor in materials sintering which discriminates microwave sintering from conventional heating techniques is a unique heating mechanism. Microwave sintering produces an efficacious inherent heating because of the direct energy supply. Microwave energy is forced into the material, and the transfer of energy transfer takes place at the very molecular level. This way, the heat is generated all over the material, i.e. on the inside as well on the outside. This allows a very low temperature gradient throughout the material cross section. When conventional sintering is used, typically at high heating rates, high temperature gradients present a problem. The accelerated microwave heating occurs through the whole volume, so the heating is uniform, which limits the grain growth and coarsening, and leads to a uniform and fine microstructure. The densification is accelerated as well during the unique heating mechanism of microwave sintering, which enhances the mechanical properties of the sintered materials. This paper discusses the use of microwave sintering in the manufacturing of different modern technical materials, namely ceramics, composites, metals and alloys, and glasses. The improvement of different properties has been described using the available literature.

microwave sintering ; conventional sintering ; ceramics ; materials

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