Energy Efficiency of Technical Ceramic Sintering in Microwave Field

Heating in the microwave field opens the possibility of developing fundamentally new technologies for creating materials that are significantly higher in comparison with existing operational and functional properties. High heating rates in the microwave field result in significant power savings and reduction in sintering time, which is important when creating high- quality materials. This method allows obtaining products with a finely dispersed and defect-free microstructure and, as a result, improved functional properties. The paper deals with the features of heating of dense materials used in the technical ceramics production, under the action of a microwave field. Silica carbide powders and alumina powders were used as the test material. The estimation of power efficiency of microwave sintering technology is presented on the example of ceramic substrates production. For evaluation, data on the technological parameters of sintering of silicon carbide in an oven by MARUWA and the values of the speed and duration of microwave heating were used. It is established that the intensity of sintering during the transition to microwave technology is significantly increased, while the power costs are significantly reduced.