Numerical and Experimental Study of Polymers Microwaves Heating

Heating polymers by microwaves is not common. In order to quantify the ability of micro-wives to heat different type of polymers, a bench measuring the dielectrics characteristics of polymers is built, and a numerical modeling of the waves-polymers interaction is achieved. Finite elements method is introduced to solve the Maxwell equations [6-8] and the energy equation. A series of numerical simulations test are performed: convergence tests are realized and the heating power distribution in the sample is obtained. Using the power distribution, we studied a transient heating process of a polymer (CAPA) sample by microwave. In order to validate the numerical approach, we set-up an experimental bench to heat the sample by microwave and measure temperature distribution, using optical fiber and pyrometers. A vector analyzer (VNA). [6, 9-12] is used to check the quality of the microwave cavity The results of the numerical simulations of the wave propagation are presented and the amplitude of the electric field is compared to the experimental measurement: good agreement is observed. In terms of polymer heating, numerical results of temperature field and experimental measurements are also compared: an efficient heating is observed.