INVESTIGATION OF THERMAL AND NON-THERMAL INTERACTIONS OF MICROWAVES WITH MATERIALS AND MICROWAVE CHEMISTRY

Abstract

The use of microwaves in industry has generated interest recently as an alternative to classic thermal heating because of the drastic reduction in the processing time. In spite of the fact that there is a wide application of microwaves, the interaction mechanism between microwaves and materials has not been well understood. Nowadays, the fact that there is a debate on the alternative use of microwaves is on not the dielectric heating which is well known but microwave specific effect. In this article there are reports which show similar kinetic in both microwave and classic thermal methods at similar temperature and simple dielectric heating of materials under microwaves conditions. There are also reports which show a clear reaction rate enhancement by microwave radiation compared to the thermal method under similar reactions conditions and temperatures indicating microwave specific effect. In addition, the study on the effects of microwaves on chemical reactions and hypothesis associated with the microwave effects will discuss