Heat transfer phenomena during processing materials with microwave energy

This paper analyses transport phenomena that occur during microwave heating. In particular, a transient one-dimensional energy balance equation has been adopted to describe the heating of a body in a microwave cavity (single-mode applicator). In the energy balance, a kinetic term has been introduced to take into account released or absorbed heat due to chemical reaction. Thus, the energy equation has been coupled with a mass balance and the relevant initial and boundary conditions. Modeled heating profiles are shown to describe the energy transfer in different materials and, the influence, on the heating process, of the fluid-dynamics outside the microwave cavity is studied and discussed.