Energy transfer in microwave assisted Combustion Synthesis of inorganic compounds

In this work microwaves (MWs) were used to ignite and sustain, the Combustion Synthesis (CS) of micrometric metallic powders in order to obtain thick intermetallic coatings as well as joining between advanced materials. MW heating possess the peculiarity to transfer energy, and not heat directly, to the reactive powders, thus it becomes possible to continue to provide energy to the reactive specimen during and after the CS, thus controlling the heating and the cooling behaviour at the reaction front. Investigations concerning the separate effect of positioning the sample in predominant electric field or magnetic field will be presented as well.