Casting of commercially available bulk copper by microwave melting process and its characterization

Abstract

Metallic materials are known to reflect microwaves owing to lower skin depth. The present work demonstrates melting of commercially available bulk copper using Microwave Hybrid Heating (MHH) technique. Microwaves generated from a 3.3 kW furnace operating at 2450 MHz are used as a source to heat and melt copper. Complete melting of copper is achieved in 25 minutes. As-received and as-cast copper are characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) technique to study the phases present. Microstructural study of the as-cast copper under Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) shows closely packed grain structure with negligible porosity. Hardness of the as-received and as-cast copper are also measured.