Coupled electromagnetic thermal and kinetic modeling for microwave
processing of polymers with temperature- and cure-dependent permittivity using
3D FEM
Affiliations: [a] Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA | [b] EM Software & Systems (USA) Inc, Hampton, VA,
USA | [c] Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials
Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA | [d] Department of Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State
University, East Lansing, MI, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Rensheng Sun, EM Software & Systems
(USA) Inc, 144 Research Drive, Hampton, VA 23666, USA. Tel.: +1 757 224 7991;
Fax: +1 757 282 5897; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: This paper presents a self-consistent 3D marching-in-time
multiphysics model, which includes electromagnetic field distribution,
microwave power absorption, heat transfer, and polymer curing kinetics.
Temperature- and cure-dependent permittivity and curing kinetics for DGEBA/DDS
based on experimental data are explicitly included in the model. An edge-based
finite element method (FEM) is implemented for the electromagnetic model,
whereas node-based FEM is used in the heat transfer model. The numerical
results can be used to determine the time-dependent temperature distribution
and curing profile across the polymer sample, as well as the electromagnetic
field distribution within the cavity applicator. The numerical results are
compared with the measured data and a good agreement is achieved.
Keywords: Multiphysics modeling, finite element method (FEM), temperature- and cure-dependent permittivity, microwave thermoset curing
