Microwave drying of ceramic structures
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsPaul Andreas Adrian, James Anthony Feldman, Jacob George, Elizabeth Marie Vileno
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Abstract
A method for drying a ceramic article comprises providing microwave radiation from a microwave generating source, providing a ceramic honeycomb structure having a middle portion and at least one end, and exposing the ceramic honeycomb structure to the microwave radiation while shielding the at least one end from directly receiving the microwave radiation, such that the radiation absorbed by the middle portion is equal to or greater than the radiation absorbed by the at least one end, and the proper drying of the entire honeycomb structure without heat-induced structural degradation is thus ensured.
Claims20
A method for drying a ceramic structure comprising:
- providing microwave radiation from a microwave generating source;
- providing a ceramic honeycomb structure having a middle portion and two ends, the structure comprising walls defining channels extending between the two ends in the direction of a longitudinal axis, the structure being disposed such that the longitudinal axis is transverse to the microwave radiation being emitted from the microwave generating source;
- exposing the ceramic honeycomb structure to the microwave radiation;
- and
- shielding at least one of the ends of the ceramic honeycomb structure from directly receiving the microwave radiation and such that the radiation absorbed by the middle portion is within the range of from about 10% to about 40% greater than the radiation absorbed by the at least one end.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.