Patent ID: 6537481
Filing Date: 2003-03-25
Classification: C04B,F27B,F27D

Abstract:
In the method of firing a ceramic article comprising heating the article in a microwave heating apparatus to a sintering soak temperature using a combination of microwave heating power and conventional radiative/convective heat energy to reduce the temperature differential between a surface temperature and a core temperature of the ceramic article, the improvement wherein:the ceramic article is subjected to microwave heating power from an adjustable microwave power generator in a series of separate firing segments including multiple firing segments of constant microwave power output, microwave power that is ramped from a low output to a higher output, and/or microwave power that is ramped from a high output to a lower output; the surface temperature and the core temperature of the ceramic article are continuously measured; and the temperature differential between the surface temperature and the core temperature of the ceramic article is reduced by adjusting the amount of conventional radiative/convective heat energy supplied during firing to control the surface temperature of the article.