Processing of composites using variable and fixed frequency microwave facilities

Abstract

This paper starts with the characteristics and advantages of microwaves processing. The shortcomings of fixed frequency, typically at 2.45 GHz were also mentioned. On account of this, the newly developed variable frequency microwave (VFM) fabrication was mentioned and adopted in place of the fixed frequency process. Two cases of fixed frequency microwave processing of materials were described; the characteristics and pros of each case was mentioned and commented. Two cases of processing materials using variable frequency microwave facility (VFMF) were mentioned; the advantages and limitations of each case were discussed. The microwave processing of materials provides improved mechanical, physical and electrical properties with much reduced processing time. Furthermore, variable frequency microwave processing is more superior to its fixed frequency counterpart except that the cost of the facilities of the former is much higher than the latter at this point in time but it appears that the price will drop in the coming ten years.