Multiphysics Modeling of the Effect of SIC Orientation On Microwave Curing of HDPE

Abstract

Microwave curing of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) polymer was performed using a mold assembly comprising three silicon carbide (SiC) blocks and an alumina mold kept inside a domestic microwave oven operating at 2.45 GHz. The same configuration was simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics software, a finite element method (FEM) based software. The simulation results were validated by comparing the experimentally measured temperature profiles with those obtained from the simulation. Key findings included the distribution of the electric field norm along the z-axis at a height of 100 mm, which ranged from 0.59 V/m to 1.55 × 10⁴ V/m. Additionally, the highest resistive losses of 4.42 × 10⁷ W/m³. were observed at the centre of the alumina mold. The influence of microwave input power on melting time, thermal non-uniformity, and the melting behaviour of HDPE during the curing process was evaluated. Furthermore, the study analyzed average heating rates and energy consumption across five different setup configurations.