Feasible Glass-Melting Process Assisted By Microwaves

The advantages of microwave (MW) energy processing have been verified in the sintering of a ceramic frit at a pre-industrial scale. The challenge of achieving high temperature using MW energy at such dimensions was overcome and a mix of natural raw materials was heated until its fluxing point. Changes in dielectric properties of the raw materials mix were also measured in situ with the increase in temperature, being in accordance to thermal processes of a conventional heating process. The properties of the resulting ceramic frit were compared with the same frit obtained by the conventional sintering method. Both frits showed similar thermal behavior regarding DTA-TGA, heating microscopy and XRD (only glassy phase was present). A Raman study confirms the existence of the mentioned glass phase. The application of the frits as glazes were performed and their properties were studied. As a result, glazes with similar properties were obtained which confirms that the MW energy processed frit is suitable for its application as a ceramic glaze.