Transparency, microwave

Overheating the microwave oven tends to result in boiling or excessively rapid evaporation of fluids such as ethanol used for dehydration, formaldehyde employed for fixation, and the antigen retrieval fluid. As a result, flammable and/or toxic materials are released in the microwave oven. Even without overheating, vapors are produced because containers are kept open in the oven to prevent pressurization. Transparent microwave containers should be used, fluid volumes should be -100ml. Microwave ovens with attached efficient extractor fans are commercially available, as are microwave ovens with temperature probes. To avoid possible exposure to toxic vapors, the face should be turned away when the oven door is opened (Horobin and Fleming, 1990). The oven door should not be opened or closed to turn the microwave power on and off. 

J. Tang, M. Radosz, Y. Shen, (2008) "Poly(ionic liquid)s as optically transparent microwave-absorbing materials." Macromolecules, 41,493-4%. 

The deterrnination of surface temperature and temperature patterns can be made noninvasively using infrared pyrometers (91) or infrared cameras (92) (see Infrared technology and raman spectroscopy). Such cameras have been bulky and expensive. A practical portable camera has become available for monitoring surface temperatures (93). An appropriately designed window, transparent to infrared radiation but reflecting microwaves, as well as appropriate optics, is needed for this measurement to be carried out during heating (see Temperature measurement). 

Polysulfones also offer desirable properties for cookware appHcations, eg, microwave transparency and environmental resistance to most common detergents. Resistance to various sterilizing media (eg, steam, disinfectants, and gamma radiation) makes polysulfones the resin family of choice for many medical devices. Uses in the electrical and electronic industry include printed circuit boards, circuit breaker components, connectors, sockets, and business machine parts, to mention a few. The good clarity of PSF makes it attractive for food service and food processing uses. Examples of appHcations in this area include coffee decanters and automated dairy processing components. 

BeryUium is used in sateUite stmctures in the form of both sheet and extmded tubing and is a very important material for aU types of space optics. BeryUium oxide ceramic apphcations take advantage of high room temperature thermal conductivity, very low electrical conductivity, and high transparency to microwaves in microelectronic substrate apphcations. 

General Electric now also offer polyetherimide-polycarbonate blends. Although these materials are not transparent and have a lower specification than the basic polyetherimide, they are less expensive and find use in microwave oven trays and automotive reflectors. 

Other, more recently developed, uses include microwave oven parts, transparent pipelines, chemical plant pumps and coffee machine hot water dispensers. One exceptional use has been to produce, by an extrusion moulding process, very large rollers for textile finishing for use where cast nylons cannot meet the specification. Also of growing interest are medical equipment applications that may be repeatedly steam-sterilised at 134°C, filtration membranes and cartridges for ink-jet printers. 

Good electrical insulation properties with a high dielectric strength and good microwave transparency but with a low tracking resistance typical of aromatic polymers with a high C H ratio in the structure. 

The largest application of polycyanurates is in circuit hoards. Their transparency to microwave and radar energy makes them useful for manufacturing the housing of radar antennas of military and reconnaissance planes. Their impact resistance makes them ideal for aircraft structures and engine pistons. ... 

Radome Also called radiation dome. It is a cover for a microwave antenna used to protect the antenna from the environment on the ground, underwater, and in the air (aircraft nose cone, etc.). The dome is basically transparent to electromagnetic radiation and structurally strong. Different materials have been used such as wood, rubber-coated air-supported fabric, etc. The most popular is the use of glass fiber-TS polyester RPs. The shape of the dome, that is usually spherical, is designed not to interfere with the radiation. 

The materials to be investigated have to be incorporated into electrochemical cells in such a way as to permit the influx and the reflection of microwaves. The electrodes have to be adjusted to the microwave techniques that will be used for the investigation. Basically three different measurement approaches can be distinguished (Fig. 3). The simplest technique for microwave conductivity studies [Fig. 3(a)] is to place the sample directly at the exit of an ordinary waveguide. This setup has the advantage of being very simple and relatively transparent with respect to the phenomena occurring. Microwave power is reflected from the sample... 

Table 3.23 gives an overview of the vessel types in use for microwave applications. It is especially important to distinguish between open vessel (as used in Sox wave ) and closed vessel (pressurised) microwave heating systems (as in MAE). Both open-vessel and closed-vessel microwave systems use direct absorption of microwave radiation through essentially microwave transparent vessel materials (Teflon, PC). 

Principles and Characteristics Pare et al. [475] have patented another approach to extraction, the Microwave-Assisted Process (MAP ). In MAP the microwaves (2.45 GHz, 500 W) directly heat the material to be extracted, which is immersed in a microwave transparent solvent (such as hexane, benzene or iso-octane). MAP offers a radical change from conventional sample preparation work in the analytical laboratory. The technology was first introduced for liquid-phase extraction but has been extended to gas-phase extraction (headspace analysis). MAP constitutes a relatively new series of technologies that relate to novel methods of enhancing chemistry using microwave energy [476]. 

Static headspace may also be carried out by substituting the heating step by a microwave treatment. In this procedure the material is immersed in a solvent that is transparent to microwaves relative to the sample in order to impart most, if not all, of the microwave energy to the sample [208]. Another configuration of MAP gas-phase extraction relates to dynamic headspace sampling. 

The low-melting-point (157 °C), silver metal is mainly used in alloys to decrease the melting point. Combined with tin, lead, and bismuth to produce soldering metal for wide temperature ranges. The element is highly valuable in the electronics age as its unique properties are ideal for solar cells, optoelectronics, and microwave equipment. The arsenide is used in lasers and is also suitable for transistors. ITO (indium tin oxide) is a transparent semiconductor with wide application in displays, touchscreens, etc. In the household, indium as an additive prevents the tarnishing of silverware. Some electronic wristwatches contain indium batteries. 

The darkness associated with dense interstellar clouds is caused by dust particles of size =0.1 microns, which are a common ingredient in interstellar and circum-stellar space, taking up perhaps 1% of the mass of interstellar clouds with a fractional number density of 10-12. These particles both scatter and absorb external visible and ultraviolet radiation from stars, protecting molecules in dense clouds from direct photodissociation via external starlight. They are rather less protective in the infrared, and are quite transparent in the microwave.6 The chemical nature of the dust particles is not easy to ascertain compared with the chemical nature of the interstellar gas broad spectral features in the infrared have been interpreted in terms of core-mantle particles, with the cores consisting of two populations, one of silicates and one of carbonaceous, possibly graphitic material. The mantles, which appear to be restricted to dense clouds, are probably a mixture of ices such as water, carbon monoxide, and methanol.7... 

What material is the sample tube made of Just like a cuvette in a UV-visible spectrometer has to be optically transparent, the EPR sample tube must be transparent for the magnetic component of microwaves. High-quality quartz is the preferred construction material low-quality quartz and especially any type of glass will not... 

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