Prediction of Temperature During Susceptor-Assisted Microwave Heating of Aluminum Using Parametric Simulation

Abstract

Numerous materials processing applications such as powder metallurgy, surface modification, additive manufacturing, joining, etc. require thermal energy. In most of these applications, heat is derived primarily by induction process, fossil fuel combustion, etc. which have their own limitations. Materials processing using microwave heating has distinct merits in terms of reduction in the process time and energy. However, there are significant challenges in metal heating using microwave energy. The use of numerical simulation can serve the purpose of improved understanding of microwave heating of metals. Owing to multiphysics nature of microwave metal heating, its numerical studies are still not extensively reported. In this work, multiphysics numerical simulation based on finite element analysis has been used to investigate the effect of the microwave heating parameters on the temperature during susceptor-assisted microwave heating of the aluminum specimen. The parameters chosen for the parametric study are load position, input power and time. The maximum temperature achieved for each parametric combination was used to develop a prediction model. It has been revealed that the input power and irradiation time have a synergistic effect while an increase in the distance of the specimen from the base has a negative impact on the temperature rise. The study provides the basis for utilizing the merits of the numerical simulation in parametric analysis and can serve as a reference model for predicting temperature rise during susceptor-assisted heating of metals using microwave.