Microwave processing of WC-Co composities and ferroic titanates

 The innovations in microwave processing of ceramics have been dominated to date by serendipitous discovery, because the interaction between such radiation as delivered via available tools and the materials of widely varying properties, sizes, and shapes is so complex that it has defied quantitative analysis. For over 10 years a wide variety of inorganic ceramic and semiconducting materials have been synthesized, sintered, and reacted in our own labs, including microwave hydrothermal synthesis of metals, ferrites, and electroceramic phases. These local results are summarized and used as the reference point for reporting on two different new advances: sintering of WC-Co composite tool bits and other similar objects in under 15 min, while retaining extremely fine microstructures, without any grain growth inhibitors; using reduced TiO₂ or Ta₂O₅ for the synthesis of phases such as BaTiO₃, Ba3MgTa₂O9, and Pb(Zr.Ti)O₃ in a few minutes in a 2.45 GHz field at the astonishing temperatures of 300–700 oC. Received: 2 January 1997 / Accepted: 27 March 1997