Temperature runaway of microwave irradiated materials

Abstract
A numerical procedure for calculating the steady‐state temperature distribution generated by microwave absorption is described. The procedure can be applied to the case of material for which the permittivity is nonlinearly temperature dependent and can be used to simulate the conditions when temperature runaway occurs. The criteria for temperature runaway are explicitly given for a cylindrical sample which is irradiated with a uniform electric field and is simultaneously cooled by convection. The results illustrate the method of predicting runaway and avoiding it by changing the experimental conditions as a function of the characteristics of the irradiated materials.