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Journal of Microwave Power
and Electromagnetic Energy (JMPEE) |
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Microwave-Induced
Mass Transport Enhancement in Nano-Porous Aluminum Oxide Membranes [PDF] |
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C. J. Bonifas, A.
Marconnet, J. Perry, J. H. Booske, and R. F. Cooper 2008 42 1 13-22 |
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Abstract Experiments were conducted to
compare the annealing of nano-porous aluminum oxide membranes by 2.45 GHz
microwave radiation and by conventional (resistive element) furnace heating.
The starting material was Keywords: Alumina, microwave anneal, microwave effect, microwave sinter |
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, membranes that were 60μm thick, 13mm in diameter,
and containing pores of approximately 200nm diameter. Changes in the porosity
and morphology were recorded from digital processing of scanning electron
microscope (SEM) images. The data indicates that both microwave and
conventionally-heated annealing resulted in a decrease of surface porosity
and an apparent increase in the number of pores. However, microwave annealing
consistently resulted in a 4-5% greater reduction in porosity and a greater
increase in the number of (small) pores than conventionally-heated annealing.
These results are consistent with a nonthermal mechanism for
microwave-enhanced surface diffusion, although the complex morphology of the
pores precluded a quantitative theoretical analysis.