Dielectric heating, mechanism

In addition to the above mentioned thermal/kinetic effects, microwave effects that are caused by the unique nature of the microwave dielectric heating mechanisms (see Section 2.2) must also be considered. These effects should be termed specific... 

Microwave radiation, as all radiation of an electromagnetic nature, consists of two components, i.e. magnetic and electric field components (Fig. 1.3). The electric field component is responsible for dielectric heating mechanism since it can cause molecular motion either by migration of ionic species (conduction mechanism) or rotation of dipolar species (dipolar polarization mechanism). In a microwave field, the electric field component oscillates very quickly (at 2.45 GHz the field oscillates 4.9 x 109 times per second), and the strong agitation, provided by cyclic reorientation of molecules, can result in an... 

It carries a benefit of converting of electromagnetic energy efficiently into heat according to dielectric heating mechanism. 

Commonly used materials for cable insulation are poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) compounds, polyamides, polyethylenes, polypropylenes, polyurethanes, and fluoropolymers. PVC compounds possess high dielectric and mechanical strength, flexibiUty, and resistance to flame, water, and abrasion. Polyethylene and polypropylene are used for high speed appHcations that require a low dielectric constant and low loss tangent. At low temperatures, these materials are stiff but bendable without breaking. They are also resistant to moisture, chemical attack, heat, and abrasion. Table 14 gives the mechanical and electrical properties of materials used for cable insulation. 

In summary, it is important to emphasise that microwave dielectric heating is not a quantum mechanical phenomenon localised at one molecular centre, but is a collective property that occurs in a semi-classical maimer and involves aggregates of molecules. Energy transfer is rapid between these molecules and this limits the extent of localisation of the heating. 

Alternative heating mechanisms to conduction, such as dielectric or ultrasonic energies, have also been attempted. These mechanisms can be dissipated by polymer solids, creating volumewide homogeneous heat sources. With these mechanisms, the governing form of the thermal-energy balance becomes... 

Although feasible, as shown by Erwin and Suh (4), using dielectric heating as an energy source is rather limited in polymer processing practice as a primary melting mechanism. 

The relative contribution of these two heating mechanisms depends on the mobility and concentration of the sample ions and on the relaxation time of the sample. If the ion mobility and concentration of the sample ions are low, then sample heating will be entirely dominated by dipole rotation. On the other hand, as the mobility and concentration of the sample ions increase, microwave heating will be dominated by ionic conduction and the heating time will be independent of the relaxation time of the solution. As the ionic concentration increases, the dissipation factor will increase and the heating time decrease. The heating time depends not only on the dielectric absorptivity of the sample but also on the microwave system design and the sample size. 

Heat content and heat flow Heat content and heat flow Dielectric properties Mechanical relaxation Volume expansion Electrical properties Molecular relaxations Molecular mobility... 

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