Numerical simulations on efficient microwave processing of thermoplastics with ceramic composites

A theoretical analysis has been carried out to study efficient heating of one-dimensional thermoplastic (Nylon 66 and PET) slabs via polymer-ceramic- polymer composite. Detailed spatial distributions of power and temperature are illustrated for specific cases. Uniform heating with an enhanced processing rate may be obtained for a thick Nylon sample with specific thickness of the Al 2O3 composite, whereas the SiC composite leads to an enhanced processing rate with higher thermal runaway. For the thin Nylon sample, the SiC composite is effective due to an enhanced processing rate whereas Al2O3 is not effective due to a reduced processing rate. It is also found that thin thermoplastics with less dielectric loss (PET) may be efficiently processed using microwave with SiC as an intermediate layer, whereas Al2O3 leads to uniform heating with high processing time. On the other hand, for thick PET samples both Al 2O3 and SiC composites are not effective due to very high processing times as well as high thermal runaway. © 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.