Numerical Studies on Microwave Heating of Thermoplastic-Ceramic Composites Supported on Ceramic Plates

Abstract

A detailed theoretical analysis has been carried out to study efficient microwave assisted heating of thermoplastic (Nylon 66) slabs via polymer-ceramic-polymer composite attached with ceramic plate at one side. The ceramic layer or plate is chosen as Al2O3 or SiC. The detailed spatial distributions of power and temperature are obtained via finite element simulation. It is found that uniform heating with enhanced processing rate may occur with specific thickness of Al2O3 composite, whereas SiC composite leads to enhanced processing rate with higher thermal runaway for thick Nylon samples attached with Al2O3 plate. SiC composite is effective due to enhanced processing rate, whereas Al2O3 is not effective due to reduced processing rate for thin samples attached with Al2O3 plate. For samples attached with SiC plate, thermal runaway is reduced by SiC composite, whereas that is not reduced by Alumina composite. Current study recommends efficient heating methodologies for thermoplastic substances with ceramic composite to achieve a higher processing rate with uniform temperature distribution.