Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-03T01:25:19.942Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Multikilowatt Variable Frequency Microwave Furnace*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

D. W. Bible
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6006
R. J. Lauf
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6006
C. A. Everleigh
Affiliation:
Microwave Laboratories, Inc., 8917 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh, NC 27622
Get access

Abstract

We describe a new type of microwave processing furnace in which the frequency can be varied continuously from 4 to 8 GHz and the power level varied from zero up to 2.5 kW. The extraordinary bandwidth of this furnace is achieved by using a traveling wave tube (TWT) amplifier originally developed for electronic warfare applications. The TWT is a linear beam device characterized by a traveling electromagnetic wave that continuously extracts energy longitudinally along the path of an electron beam. The TWT, unlike other microwave tubes such as the magnetron, klystron, gyrotron, and others, does not depend upon resonant RF fields and is therefore capable of wide bandwidth operation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-840R21400 with Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc.

References

REFERENCES

1. Sutton, W. H., “Microwave Processing of Ceramic Materials,” Amer. Cer. Soc. Bull. 68 [2], 376–86 (1989).Google Scholar
2. Swain, B., “Microwave Sintering of Ceramics,” Met. Prog. 134 [3], 7682 (1988).Google Scholar
3. Meek, T. T., Blake, R. D., and Petrovic, J. J., “Microwave Sintering of Al2O3 and Al2O3 - SiC-Whisker Composites,” Ceram. Eng. Sci. Proc. 8 [7-8], 861–71 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Barmatz, M., Watkins, J. L., and Jackson, H. W., “Microwave Processing of Materials in Microgravity,” AIAA 92-0116, 30th Aerosp. Sci. Meeting, Jan. 6-9, 1992, Reno, NV.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5. Mackay, A., Tinga, W. R., and Voss, W. A. G., “Frequency Agile Sources for Microwave Ovens,” J. Microwave Power 1 [1], 6376 (1979).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Holcombe, C. E. and Dykes, N. L., “Importance of Casketing for Microwave Sintering of Materials”, J. Mat. Sci. Lett. 9, 425–8 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Lauf, R. J., Hamby, C., Holcombe, C. E., and Vierow, W. F., “Microwave Processing of Tantalum Capacitor Anodes,” Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 269(1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar