Simulation and analysis of microwave heating while joining bulk copper

Abstract

Processing of bulk metallic materials using microwave energy is challenging. However, in this work microwave heating has been successfully employed for joining of bulk copper. The present work illustrates the joining process using COMSOL simulation tool. The work complements the experimental results of the microwave heating of bulk copper in a multimode microwave applicator. In electromagnetic processing, thermal dissipation in the bulk metal may be attributed to resistive heating, dielectric and magnetic losses. This dissipative mechanism is coupled to the fields by the conductivity, permittivity and permeability of the metal. The model has been created for heating of the bulk metal in a microwave oven by considering the radio frequency of the microwaves. The distributed power and heat source were computed in a stationary, frequency domain electromagnetic analysis and coupled to a transient heat transfer simulation showing the heat distribution in the bulk copper joint. The maximum power observed at the joint interface is 6.0618×108 W/m3 with an average power is 3×108 W/m3. However, the temperature will be around 1144˚C was attained in 300 s at the joint interface while the parent material is about 940 ˚C. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental one.Keywords: Microwave heating, FEM Model, Simulation, Copper Joint, Resistive Heating.