Surface-Plasmon-Like Modes Of Graphite Powder Compact In Microwave Heating

We determine the mechanism of rapid and selective heating of nonmagnetic conductive particles by the electric and magnetic fields of microwaves. We investigated the dependencies of the heating behaviors of carbon powders on the radius and electrical conductivity for various relative densities. In these experiments, strong microwave absorption was observed in magnetic field at certain radii and ratios of the crystallite size to the radius. Mie theory for a single particle could account for the high heating rates generated by the microwave magnetic field in sintering experiments. In the dependence of the heating behavior on the relative density, that H field exhibited the maximum absorption at certain relative densities of the graphite powders. These surface plasmon-like modes were observed in graphite, but were not observed when an E field was applied. Multiparticle systems such as graphite powder were found to have significantly different heating behaviors from a single particle. Microwave heating of metal particles is expected to be affected by the structure and shape of the particles. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4745871]