480

Microwave processing of ceramics

Dinesh K Agrawal

Microwave processing of ceramics is fast emerging as a new energy transfer, cvhich occurs in conventional technicl(lcs.
field of ceramic processing and material synthesis. The past hlicrowave heating is a function of rhe material being
year has witnessed significant progress in the aspect of processed, and rherc is almost 1009T con~xxsion of elec-
commercialization and application of the technology to new tromagnetic energy into heat, largely within rhe sample
areas. The most significant developments have been the use of itself, unlike with conventional heating where there arc
microwaves in the sintering of non-oxides, such as tungsten significant thermal energy losses. hlicro~\~a~~e heating has
carbide-based components and powdered metals, fabrication many advanrages over con\~entional heating methods
of transparent ceramics, and the design of continuous [l-S]; some of these advantages include, time and cncrg)
microwave systems. sar.ing, very rapid heating rates (>4OO’(:/min), considcr-
ably reduced processing time and rempcruture, fine
Addresses microstructures and hence impro\xd mechanical proper-
Materials Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, tics, it is en~%amientall~ friendl!; and so on.
University Park, PA 16802, USA; e-mail: dxa4@psu.edu

Current Opinion in Solid State & Materials Science 1998, Other rhan radar, other communicarion purposes and
3:480-485 home-cooking, microwaves are widely used in man!. indcls-
trial applications including. meat tempering, potato chips
Electronic identifier: 1359-0286-003-00480
processing. bacon cooking, drying of pharmrweutical prod-
C Current Chemistry Ltd ISSN 1359-0286 ucts and wlcanization of rubber. In the case of ceramic
processing microwave energy has been in wit since the late
Abbreviations
BMT 1910s wirh a big push in the eighrics: however. this did not
Ba(M9o 3sTao.Gs
BT BaTiO, result in the formation of useful products in the field of
PZT Pb(Zro,~~T~o.~~)O3 ceramics. Ceramic processes \vherc micro\vavcs have Ixen
WC tungsten carbide
applied include: process control. drying of ceramic sanitar>
wares. calcination, decomposition of gaseous species I,!
Introduction niicro\va\x plasma, and sintering of oxide uximics I,)
New developments and innovative ideas in the area of micrownxz plasma. However, excqx for the drying of
materials processing ha\,e often led to the discovery of ceramic uxrcs there is hardlv any orhcr area where
new materials, with interesting and useful properties, microwave technology has been commercially cxploitcd.
and/or new technologies which are faster. better, cheaper Only, recently ha1.e there been reports indicating rhat
and greener. A striking example of such innovations arc sonic sticccss has been achieved in commerci:llizinfi chc
recent de\dopmcnts in the area of microwave processing microwar-c sintering of L\‘(:-based cutting tools [C)].
of ceramics. Although many potential advanrages of uriliz-
ing microwxves to process ceramics have long been rccog- hIany different physical phenomena are in\d\ ed during the
nized, ir is only now that this field has finally been shown microwave processing of ceramics. ‘I’hc interaction bet\\uzii
to be at the take-off stage. Although microwave heating microwa\xs and matter takes pl;tce through rhc electric field
~3s conceived 01 er SO years ago, its use iii ceramic pro- \‘ector and magnetic field vector of the elccrromagnctic ticld
cessing is relatively ne\\; Among the most prominent of the microwaves and in\& es polarization and conduction
advances in the past year were those reporwd on tungsten processes. (Iassically \xrious absorption mechanisms ha\ c
carbide (Il’C-based ceramic composites, fabrication of been identified in the interaction of niicronx\w with in;i1-
transparent ceramics, sintering of powdered metals and the ter. Exanplcs of these are dipole reorientation, conduction
design of a continuous microwave system to enable the of space and ionic charge. and so on, which are primaril)
commercialization of the technology. found in insulators or dielectric materials. Other energ? Ioss-
es, depending on the material under interaction. can occur
hlicrowave heating is fundamentally different from COII- through rlcctric conduction in (semi)metals and/or magnct-
ventional heating. Microwaves arc electromagnetic radia- ic resonance in magnetic materials. All these processes gi1.c
tion with waxlengths ranging from 1 mm to 1 m in free rise to energy losses which manifest themschzs in the form
space with a frequency between 300 GHz to 300 hIHz, of \dumetric heat in the material.
respectively. Today microwa\w at the 2.45 C;Hz frecluen-
c); arc used almost universally for industrial and scientif- Interest and activity in microwa\~e processing has been coii-
ic applications. In the microwave process, the heat is tinuously increasing, and the ~1st:of microuwx tcchnolog)
generated internally Mithin the material instead of origi- in industrial applications is also growing \vith nt‘n~ de\~lop-
nating from exwrnal sources, and hence there is an mats in both the engineering and design of micro\va\x sys-
inverse heating profile. ‘I’he heating is very rapid as the terns. ‘I’his growing and renewed interest in microux\ c
material is heated by energy con\wsion rather than by technology has been amply supported by the s~~cccss of the
 Microwave processing of ceramics Agrawal 481

Figure 1 Table 1

Comparison of microwave and conventional processes for

sintering WC-Co composites.

Microwave Conventional

Sintering temperature YC) 1300 1450

Total cycle time 90 min 12-24 hrs
Sintering time (minutes) 10 60
Density (O/oTD) 99.8 99.7
Average grain size (pm) 0.6 2
Bending strength (MPa) 1800 1700
Hardness (Rockwell A) 93 91

TD, theoretical density.

Microwave sintering of WC + Co composites

Hard metal composites due to their unique combination of
hardness, toughness and strength, especially WC-based
composites, are universally used for cutting tools and
drilling operations underground. Conventional methods
for sintering WC with Co as a binder phase involve high
temperatures and lengthy sintering cycles of the order of
one day. In a conventional sintering method, the carbide
specimen is subjected to high temperatures (up to 1SOO’C)
for long periods in order to achieve a high degree of sinter-
I ing. Such conditions unfortunately favor undesirable WC
.!z
Current Opinion m Solid State & Materials Science grain growth in the presence of Co liquids. Consequently,
the mechanical strength and hardness of the tool is dimin-
Schematic drawing of apparatus for continuous microwave sintering. ished. It is a well known fact that finer microstructures pro-
vide superior mechanical properties and a longer life-time
of the product. Often, additives such as titanium carbide
‘First World Congress on Microwave Processing’, which was (TIC), vanadium carbide (VC) and tantalum carbide
held in Orlando, January 5-9, 1997. (TaC) are used to prevent grain growth of WC grains.
Unfortunately such additives deleteriously affect the
Five earlier excellent reviews by Clark and Sutton [7], mechanical properties of the product. In 1991, JP Cheng,
Schiffman [B], Katz [9] and Sutton [lO,ll], are more than in a PhD thesis [ 121, showed for the first time that WC/Co
adequate to give interested readers a broader picture of the composites could be sintered in a microwave apparatus.
status of microwave processing research up until 1996. Gerdes and Willert-Porada [13] also reported the sintering
This current review presents a series of innovations and of similar WC objects, but they followed a reactive sinter-
new developments in the field of microwave processing of ing route using a mixture of pure W, C and Co instead of
ceramics, which occurred in the last year and half. During normal microwave sintering. In parallel work Cheng et a/.
this period, the use of microwave sintering has been [14], using a newly designed apparatus (Figure 1) were
extended to new material families which contain not only able to sincer WC ‘commercial’ green bodies containing
white ceramics and ‘semiconducting cements’ but also 12% and 6% Co. It was observed that microwave processed
major composite families containing substantial amounts WC/Co bodies exhibited better mechanical properties
of metals, and even pure metals and alloys. Dramatic than the conventionally processed parts, a fine and uni-
developments have taken place in the area of material syn- form microstructure (-1 micron size grains) with very little
thesis utilizing microwave energy and variable valance grain growth, and nearly full density was achieved without
oxide precursors. This approach triggers very high reaction adding any grain-growth inhibitors when sintered at
rates during the synthesis of important dielectric materials 1250”-1320°C for only lo-30 minutes [6,15,Pl]. Table 1
compositions. This is an unambiguous demonstration of a provides a comparison between microwave and conven-
non-thermal ‘microwave effect’ in accelerating and cat- tionally processed WC/Co cements.
alyzing new reactions. The advantage of obtaining finer
microstructures in microwave processed products, unat- Microwave synthesis using reduced oxide
tainable by conventional heating, has led to its application precursors
in the development of transparent and translucent ceram- Microwave energy has been used in many syntheses to
ics for a variety of applications. These areas and other either enhance the reaction kinetics or to trigger new reac-
advances will be the focus of this review. tions at lower temperatures. However, recently microwave
482 Ceramics, composites and intergrowths

Table 2 hexagonal phase of 13a’1’i03 is only stable above 1400’(:.

‘I’hc presence of this phase at 300”(~ and its disappar;lncc
Comparison of reaction pathways for BaTiO, synthesis using
microwave and conventional methods.
by 700”(:, lvithorlt 13a,‘liO, ever appearing indicates that
radically different reaction path\vays occur compared with
Processing Microwave Conventional Microwave those obser\,ed from com~entionally proccsscd ma&al.
temperature BaCO,+TIO,_, BaCO,+TiO,_, BaCO,+TiO, ‘I‘his reaction path difference is a con\ incing demonstr:i-
tion of a ‘micron2ve effect’
200°C
300°C hex-BT
_
600% tet-BT; hex-BT PZT, Pb(Zro.s2Tio.4a)03
800°C tet-BT _
One of the major problems researchers face \vith COI~\~CII-
900% tet-BT Ba,TIO, (at 950°C) Ba,TiO,
tional processing of 13’1: t’l~(%r,,,sl’l‘i,,,,,)O;. is the \.;ipor-
1loo”c tet-BT Ba,TiO, Ba,TiO,; tet-BT
1300% tet-BT Ba*TiO, BazTiO,; tet-BT ization of PbO, which starts near 750”(:. Apart from the
obvious environmental hazard this poses, it also results in
hex, hexagonal; tet, tetragonal. an incomplete rcaction Icaling large amoilnts of iinreact-
cd %rOL. hlathis [ 171 and (Iheng [12] reported that stoi-
energy was cased [12,16’,17] to synthesize important ferro- chiometric WY1 mixtures, that is with no cxccss I’bO,
electric materials and other ceramic powders by adopting reacted in 3 microwa\.c field using ‘l’iO:_, powder in the
the concept of the prc-reduction of phases, such as ‘I’i02 starting mixture. Analysis of the XKD patterns of the
and ‘Ib20i, to give a highly microwave absorptive precursor microwa\~c processed 1’%‘1’ show4 that the reaction MYIS
material and thereby enhancing the reaction kinetics dra- nearly complete 3t 600°C with only tract amounts of I’bO
matically. ‘I’he main idea was to create a defect structure to and %rOZ detectable, indicating a virtually complete rcac-
make microu2vc coupling more efficient at room tempera- tion before PhO \.olatilization occurs. ‘I’hc crlbic 1’%‘1’
ture. It was reported that by using pre-reduced ‘I’i02 and phase was formed first (at 6(N)“(:), follo\val Iq suhsccliicnt
‘IB20s precursor oxides, Ba’li0,3, WI: I’b(%r,,,5L7’i(,,~X)03 nucleation and an increase in the tctragon;ll WI’ phase.
and 13h1’1’, Ha(hlg,,,,~,~‘l:,l,,,,7)0,~could bc synthesized at By 900”(: a 5050 mixture of the cubic and tctragonal
astonishingly low tempcraturcs, between 300°C: and 000°C: phases was e\,idcnt. ‘I’he total time recluircd to achic\,c
in S-12 minutes. Conventional methods for the synthesis synthesis at 600°C: in the microwave field MYISless than X
of these phases require tcmpert\tures in the range of 900°C minutes.
to 1400°C: and several hours of soaking time. Pure stoichio-
metric metal oxides, such as ‘1~zO.i and ‘l’i02, do not COLI- BMT, BaWlg,,3Ta2,3)03
pie with microwave energy efficiently winless heated to I~a(h1g,,,~‘1:,l,,3)0,~ with a perovskite structure is a good
temperatures Lvherc they become dielectrically loss); dielectric material for microwave resonators. bccausc it
(> 1000°C). By partially reducing these phases to oxygen possesses a high quality factor (Q) and moderate dielectric
defective states, such as ‘1:,1&, and ‘ITiC)_,, their ability to constant. In high frequency (gigahertz) commLlnicatit,n
absorb microwave energy at lower temperatures is radically systems, use of high Q materials is imperati\~e. ‘I’his
enhanced. ‘I’his concept WLISfurther reinforced by the work remarkable material is. pcrhaps, the most refractory oxide
of Bosssert and Ludwig 1181 who reported rapid sintering (melting point > 3000”(:), and therefore very high tcmpcr-
of titania in a microcvave field using a nitrogen atmosphere ;Itures are required to sinter it in a conventional furnace. It
which reduced the titania creating oxygen \:acancies. ‘I’hey takes several hours and a temperdturc of over 1~~50”(: to
achieved 98% density in 40 minutes as compared to achieve reasonable densification of 13hl’l’ ccramicc.
3 hours using a conventional heating. ‘I’his they attributed ‘I’hrrefore, to obtain Bhl’l’ ceramics \vith a high density
to the reduced titania causing better microwave coupling sintcring aids such as hln and Sn arc used. But the sintcr-
leading to higher densification. Below are examples of ing aids also influence the dielectric properties undesirably.
some specific materials prepared by this mcthod. In a recent study, Agrawal d NI. [19] synthesized and sin-
tercd a Hhl’l’ single phase material, using reduced oxide
BT, BaTiO, precursors. I IX of reduced ‘I~~O,i_X remarkably cnhanccd
In the case of the synthesis of 13a’ri03~ X-ray diffraction the reaction kinetics and produced a single phase material
data for microwave processed powders using ‘I’iO,_, as one at a much lower tempcraturc with higher densification than
of the precursors, shows most surprisingly the formation of is normally obtained by conventional processes. hlicrowa\~e
the hexagonal Ba’l’iO, phase (‘1:dble 2; [IX]) at 300°C with processed Bhl’l’ samples exhibited density as high 3s 97%’
no soak time. ‘The formation of the desired tetragonal of the theoretical when heated at 1600”(: for 30 minutes.
Ba’l’i03 phase increased with soak time and the reaction
was complete hy 700°C. ‘I’he total time necessary for the Transparent ceramics
synthesis of Ba’Ti& via this route was less than 12 min- ‘Iiansparency is a valuable optical property of materials.
utes. Conventional synthesis of Ba’l’i03 using the same The nature of the material including grain size. density
reactant mixture occurs above 1300°C and always proceeds crystal structure, porosity and the grain boundary phase arc
via the formation of the Ba2’l’iO, phase first. ‘I’he phase the main factors which influence the degree of transparen-
diagram for Ba’l’i0,3 shows that the high tempernture cy. ‘To achieve transparency in a ceramic, one must control
 Microwave processing of ceramics Agrawal 483

the grain growth, eliminate porosity and achieve a fully Figure 2

dense material. The conventional methods to fabricate

fully dense and reasonably transparent ceramics involve
high temperatures, lengthy sintering conditions, and vari-
ous complex processing steps, which not only make the
processing of transparent ceramics uneconomical, but also
the desired properties are often not achieved. However, a
microwave method has been successfully used to fabricate
transparent ceramics due to its ability to minimize grain ikmsparent Hydroxyapatite Ceramics
growth and produce a fully dense ceramic in a very short
period of time without utilizing high pressure conditions bansparent ~~~xya~atite Ceramics
[20,21]. Several studies have been conducted on the fabri-
cation of transparent ceramics using hydroxyapatite. Such
studies led to the first preparation by Fang et al. [ZZ] of a
fully sintered transparent ceramic by microwave process-
ing. It was shown that useful bodies could be sintered in
less than 15 minutes: the densification was shown to be
critically dependent on the starting materials. Related work
[23,P2] also demonstrated that one could make transparent
ceramics of a spine1 and alumina. Fully dense alumina and
spine1 ceramics using high purity and submicron size pow-
ders were developed [23,PZ] with reasonable degrees of
transparency on laboratory type small samples in a few min-
utes. Figure 2 shows microwave processed partially trans-
parent ceramics of hydroxyapatite and spine1 phases [Zl].

Powdered metals
As has been stated in earlier reviews the use of microwave
heating and sintering has been confined mainly to oxide Cment Opinion in Solid State & MaQeti& Scante
ceramics, and only recently has it been extended to car-
bide semimetals. But the most recent application of
Transparent ceramics. Top: transparent hydroxyapatite ceramics
microwave technology to another completely unexpected
fabricated in ambient air by microwave processing for 5 minutes at
area, yet one which encompasses a vast industry of variety 1100-l 150°C. Bottom: mullite ceramics sintered by microwave
of applications, namely powdered metals (PMs), has great processing for 10 minutes at 13OO’C.
significance [24’]. Bulk metals are excellent reflectors in
microwaves and in general are not heated significantly. But
in a powdered and unsintered form virtually all metals, Zeolites are important materials as catalysts, adsorbents
alloys, and intermetallics will couple/heat in a microwave and ion-exchangers. Querol et al. [ZS] have reported a rapid
field both very efficiently and effectively to produce high- method for recycling fly ash and synthesizing zeolites using
ly sintered bodies with improved mechanical properties. It a microwave assisted hydrothermal method. They used an
is reported that the microwave sintering of PM green bod- alkaline activation experiment and synthesized various
ies comprising various metals and metal alloys (Fe-Ni-C types of zeolitic material. They found that the activation
and Fe-Cu-C) has produced highly sintered bodies in a time was drastically reduced from 24-48 hours (by conven-
very short period of time. Typically the total cycle time was tional methods) to only 30 min using microwaves. In anoth-
-90 minutes, the sintering temperature ranged between er study Kosslick et ai. [26] prepared a series of zeolites
llOO”C-1300°C and the soaking time from 5 to 60 min- (aluminosilicates, aluminophosphates, etc.) and found that
utes. The mechanical properties, such as the modulus of the synthesis time decreased from the hours and days nor-
rupture (MOR) and hardness of microwave processed sam- mally needed in conventional methods to a few minutes.
ples were much higher than those of the conventionally They also claimed that in the case of an ion-exchange reac-
prepared samples. The densities of the microwave tion, the isomorphous replacement was enhanced and the
processed samples were also better than those of conven- quality of products was considerably improved. Microwave
tional samples. sintering of clay ceramics is also getting attention. Shiming
and McColm [27] studied clays with the addition of metal
Other developments and semiconducting powders as microwave coupling aids,
In addition to the above mentioned recent developments and achieved harder and stronger microwave sintered clay
in the field, there were a few minor but important areas in samples compared with conventional samples. Tan et al.
which microwaves were utilized and some significant [28] studied the phase transformation kinetics of four baux-
progress has been made in many on-going research areas. ite materials in a variable frequency microwave furnace,
484 Ceramics, composites and intergrowths

they quantitatively identified mullite, corundum and unpublished data) reported microwave sintering of
cristobalite phases in the fired extrudatcs. nanophase \1’(:/Co composites and stated that micron-;I\ c
sintered material exhibitcd higher hardness and finer ,qrain
‘I’hc technology of micrown~e drying has been in use for size than the conventionally sintered material. \‘ollath [-lo]
many years in channel dryers \vith com~eyor belts, especial- has developed a continuous process for synthesizing ccram-
ly for tableware products. Hut recently at Riedhammer ic nsnoparticles and nanocomposites of oxides. nitrides. sul-
(Germany; [29]) large micro\vave dryers have been LISC~ in fides, selenides and with certain precautions e\‘en carhidcs
drying technical ceramics, such as honeycomb structures and metals. ‘l’he author reported that, in general, it MX dif-
and insulators, with the advantage of energy savings and ;1 ficult to obtain a uniform distribution of t\zv or more phas-
uniform rapid drying. ‘I’hey claim damage-free drying of es when producing nanocomposites. Ilo\vwer. in the
items of large volume in microwaves in hours in contrast to microu~ave plasma process, the second phase is used to coat
weeks required by comrentional drying methods. ‘I’his is particles consisting of the first phase. this coating can IX ;I
one major area in ceramic processing where microaw.es second ceramic phase or a polymer.
have been successfully exploited for a commercial appli~:l-
tion. Sizgek and Sizgck [.30] ha1.e also reported the Conclusions
microwave drying characteristics of simulated high level licl- In the past year and half. significant df32lopments and
uid waste impregnated Synroc ceramic microsphcres. ‘I’hey advances ha\.e taken place in the field of microu.avc pro-
observed that at a given microwa\.e power le\cl, drying of cessing of ceramics. ‘I’hc microwave process is increasing-
water-saturxed samples was quicker and prod wed a homo- ly being exploited to develop better and cheaper products,
gencous distribution of the \uste than with comw&c dry- particularly specialty ceramics. It has hecn demonstrated
ing, which resulted in segregation of waste components. that in the case of \T:C/(:o the use of microwa\u can
reduce the cycle time to about one-tenth that required 11)
Several studies of the miorowavc sintering and microstruc- con\ entional means, and still obtain better propcrtics. ‘1%~
tural imestigations of zirconia based composites [.31-.X3) ad\antage of using microwaves was quite dramatic \\.licii
have been reported. In all of these studies an enhanced den- using redrlccd oxide precursors in synthesizing titanate
sification in the microwa\,e processed materials wxs and tantalate bawd electroccramics. ‘I’he microwa\c COII-
observed. Si,iN_, ceramics, which are widely used for high pling in the praence of :I defect strwturc causes cxtrcme-
temperature structural applications, were also f&ricated b> ly rapid reaction kinetics and new reaction paths producing
micro\\a\x methods and their microstructllral characteristics materials at much lower temperatures than normalI~-
examined [34,35]. The formation of a P-phase, which is very obtained by a comzntional heating method. ‘l’he most six-
critical for high toughness, was enhanced in microwaves. nificant dc\,elopmcnt in microwave sintcring has hxii the
Fiore and Clark [.%I reported a microwave induced rcduc- sintering of powdered metals and fabrication of transparent
tion/oxidation method to form ceramic-metal composites. ceramics in a single step process. ‘I’he so-called micro\52\ e
In a pressurcless microwave sintcring (371 method function- effect, which is commonly assumed to IX a nonthcrmal
al gradient material (I:GRl) of metal-ceramic compositions phenomenon and responsible for the rapid dcnsification
have been successfull\- fabricated and enhanced sintcring mechanisms has hccn explained
by the concentration of electrical energy in the ~loscd
t&searchers have been long discussing how to find out the pores of the green ceramics. It can be prcdictcd uith thcsc
exact nature of the so-called ‘micro\~a~e-effect’, which significant advances having been made in the field of
enhances the sinterability of the ceramics and other posi- niicrowri\.e processing of ceramics. that there is a great
tive effects observed during microwave processing of future for microwave technology for the swccssful con-
materials. In an excellent article DXllert-Porada [W] has mercialization for specialty- ceramics.
explained the micro\vavc effect hypothesis b); studying the
microstnlctural changes in the ceramics sintered by both References and recommended reading
Papers of particular interest, published within the annual period of review,
conventional and microwave methods. It w;ls cxplaincd
have been highlighted as:
that in that presence of an electric field (micravavc) the
l of special Interest
closed ports could be sites of cnhanccd material transport l * of outstanding Interest
and therefore more efficiently removed than open ports. 1. Roy R, Komarnenl S, Yang JL: Controlled microwave heating and
causing rapid and enhanced densification. melting of gels.J Am Ceram Sot 1985, 68:392-395.

2. Komarneni S, Roy R: Anomalous microwave melting of zeolites

Mater Lett 1986, 4:i 07-l 10.
Several studies have been reported on the microwave pro-
cessing of nanophase materials. The ad\.antage of using 3. Snyder Jr WB, Sutton WH, lskander MF, Johnson DL (Eds):
Microwave Processfng of Ma/laterfa/s II. Pittsburgh, USA: MRS; 1990.
nanopowders in microwaves is to retain the fine microstruc- [Materials Research Society Proceedings, vol 189.1
ture in the sintered ceramics. Lewis d o/. [?#I processed 4. Beatty RL, Sutton WH, lskander MF (Eds): Microwave Processing of
nanophase ceramics using 2.45 and >35 GtIz microwaw Matends 111. Pittsburgh, USA: MRS; 1992. [Materials Research
Society Proceedings, vol 269.1
frequencies and found significant enhancements in the sin-
5. Clark DE, Tlnga WR, Laia JR Jr (Eds): ~xrowaves: Theory and
wring properties, especially in the case of aluminum oxide. Application m Materials Processmg II. Westervllle, Ohio: The
Agrawal d N/. (DK Agrau~l, J Cheng, R Roy 1’ Seegopaul, Amencan Ceramrc Society; 1993. [Ceramic TransactIons, vol 36.1

6. Gig1 PD, Breval E, Cheng J, Agrawal DK, Roy R: Structure properties
of microwave sintered cemented tungsten carbide materials
[abstractl. In Abstract Book of The First World Congress on
Microwave Processing: 1997 Jan 5-9; Orlando, Florida. Fredrick,
MD: W/L Associates Ltd; 1997:106.
7. Clark D, Sutton WH: Microwave processing of materials. Annu Rev
Mater Sci 1996, 26:299-331.
0. Schiffman RF: Commercializing microwave systems: paths to
success or failure. Ceram Trans 1995, 59:7-l 7.
9. Katz JD: Microwave sintering of ceramics. Annu Rev Mater Sci
1992,22:153-70.
10. Sutton W: Microwave processing of ceramics-an overview. Mater
Res Sot Symp Proc 1992, 269:3-l 9.
11. Sutton W: Microwave processing of ceramic materials. Am Ceram
Sot Bull 1989, 68:376-66.
12. Cheng JP: Study on microwave sintering technique of ceramics
materials [PhD Thesis]. Wuhan, China: China Wuhan University of
Technology; 1991.
13. Gerdes T, Willert-Porada M: Microwave sintering of metal-ceramic
and ceramic-ceramic composites. Mater Res Sot Symp Proc
1994, 347:531-537.
14. Cheng JP, Agrawal DK, Komameni S, Mathis M, Roy R: Microwave
processing of WC-Co composites and ferroic titanates. Mater Res
lnnova 1997, 1:44-52.
15 Agrawal DK, Cheng J, Roy R, Seegopaul P: Microwave sintaring of
nanocomposite tungsten carbide-cobalt hard materials [abstractl.
In Abstract Book of the First World Congress on Microwave
Processing: 1997 Jan 5-9; Orlando, Florida. Fredrick, MD:
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16. Mathis MD: Microwave synthesis using multicomponent and
. multiphasic systems lPhD Thesis]. University Park: The
Pennsylvania State University; 1997.
Excellent thesis describing a nobel synthesis method using microwaves and
unique precursors.
17. Mathis MD, Roy R, Agrawal DK, Plovnick RH, Hutcheon RM:
Microwave synthesis of ceramic powders using reduced or
nonstoichoimetric precursors [abstractl. In Abstract Book of the
First World Congress on Microwave Processing: 1997 Jan 5-9;
Orlando, Florida. Fredrick, MD: W/L Associates Ltd; 1997:41.
18. Bossert J, Ludwig C: Microwave sintering of titania. Key Eng Mater
1997, 132-136:1022-i 026.
19. Agrawal DK, Vaidhynathan B, Roy R, Mathis M: Microwave synthesis
of Ba(Mg,,,Ta&O,, a microwave dielectric material. In
Proceedings of the 33rd Microwave Power Symposium: 1998 July
12-75; Chicago. Virginia, USA: IMPI Manassas; 1998:in press.
20. Cheng J, Agrawal DK, Roy R: Microwave preparation of transparent
alumina ceramics. Am Ceram Sot Bull 1998,77:211.
21. Cheng J, Agrawal DK, Roy R: Microwave processing of transparent
ceramics. In Proceedings of the 33rd Microwave Power Symposium:
7998 July 12-75; Chicago. Virginia, USA: IMPI Manassas; 1998:in
press.
22. Fang Y, Agrawal DK, Roy DM, Roy R: Fabrication of transparent
hydroxyapatite ceramics by microwave processing. Mater Lett
1995, 23:147-151.
23. Fang Y, Agrawal DK, Roy DM, Roy R: Transparent mullite ceramics
from diphasic aerogels by microwave and conventional
processing. Mater Lett 1996, 28:l l-1 5.
24. Roy R, Agrawal DK, Gedevanishvili S, Cheng J: Microwave sintering
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