Pour répondre aux nouvelles contraintes économiques et environnementales auxquelles l'industrie doit faire face aujourd'hui, des techniques de frittage rapide se développent pour la fabrication des céramiques. Parmi elles, une technique prometteuse est le frittage par micro-ondes dans laquelle le champ électromagnétique à l'origine du chauffage pourrait permettre d'obtenir des microstructures innovantes, tout en réduisant la température, le temps de cycle et la consommation énergétique. Pour expliquer le comportement particulier des poudres en présence des micro-ondes, différentes théories prévoyant des effets thermiques ou non-thermiques ont été proposées. L'existence même de ces effets n'a cependant toujours pas été démontrée de façon sûre, notamment à cause des limites des dispositifs expérimentaux qui ne permettent pas une comparaison pertinente du frittage micro-ondes avec le frittage conventionnel. Dans ce contexte, les travaux réalisés pendant cette thèse, dans le cadre du projet ANR Fµrnace, ont été consacrés à la mise en évidence et à la compréhension de l'influence du champ électromagnétique sur les mécanismes responsables de la densification et de l'évolution microstructurale de poudres céramiques. Une forte attention a été portée au développement technologique de la cavité de chauffage micro-ondes monomode utilisée dans nos recherches. Le procédé a été entièrement automatisé et équipé de divers systèmes de contrôle de la température et du retrait des échantillons pour que les résultats obtenus puissent être comparés de façon incontestable avec ceux issus d'essais de frittage conventionnel. Des simulations numériques ont été réalisées pour améliorer la compréhension de la propagation du champ électromagnétique et de son interaction avec les éléments introduits au sein de la cavité micro-ondes. Un matériau de référence, l'alumine, a été choisi et l'influence de certaines caractéristiques des poudres (surface spécifique, présence de dopants, transformation de phase) sur les cinétiques de densification et l'évolution microstructurale a été étudiée. Les résultats obtenus ont permis d'identifier des effets spécifiques des micro-ondes sur les mécanismes de diffusion responsables de la densification et de la croissance granulaire. Ces effets se produisent principalement pendant les stades initial et intermédiaire du frittage, ainsi que pendant la transformation de phase de poudres de transition et ont été attribués à une force de type pondéromotrice déjà proposée dans la littérature. L'utilisation de cette technique de frittage n'a cependant pas permis d'obtenir des alumines avec des microstructures plus performantes que celles issues du frittage conventionnel. / To meet the new economic and environmental constraints that the industry faces today, fast sintering processes are developed for the fabrication of ceramics. Among them, a promising technique is microwave sintering, in which the electromagnetic field at the origin of heating could be used to obtain innovative microstructures, while reducing sintering temperature, cycle time and energy consumption. To explain the particular behavior of powders under microwaves, different hypotheses related with thermal or non-thermal effects have been proposed in the literature. These effects, however, has not really been demonstrated for the moment, especially because of the limits of experimental devices that do not allow for a meaningful comparison of microwave sintering with conventional sintering. In this context, the work performed during this thesis in the framework of FμRNACE ANR project has been dedicated to identifying and understanding the influence of the electromagnetic field on the mechanisms of densification and microstructure changes in ceramic powders. High attention has been paid to the technological development of the single-mode microwave cavity used in our research. The heating process has been fully automated and instrumented with various equipments allowing for temperature and sample shrinkage measurement. The aim was to ensure direct and reliable comparison of microwave sintering data with those resulting from conventional sintering. Numerical simulation has been conducted to improve our understanding of the propagation of the electromagnetic field and its interaction with the components introduced in the microwave cavity. Alumina has been chosen as a reference material and the influence of several features of the powders (specific surface area, doping elements, phase transformation) on densification kinetics and microstructure changes has been studied. The results have identified specific effects of microwaves on the mechanisms controlling densification and grain growth. These effects occur essentially during the initial and intermediate stages of sintering and during the phase transformation of transition powders. They have been attributed to the ponderomotive force as already proposed in the literature. However the use of microwaves as a heating mode does not permit obtaining alumina with better microstructures than those resulting from conventional sintering.

The inability of service providers to constantly meet the design target of 99.99 % availability of the line-of-sight (LOS) microwave links has caused concern among both the operators and consumers. The non-availability of the links is predominantly due to propagation impairments along the propagation link. These propagation effects include cloud, snow, fog, gas attenuation, rain and atmospheric scintillation. Various studies have shown high vulnerability of radio communication systems operating at microwave (3-30 GHz) and millimeter wave (30-300 GHz) to rainfall attenuation especially in the tropical regions characterized by heavy rainfall and relatively large rain drops when compared to the temperate regions. In order to understand the effects of attenuation due to rain on communication systems in any locality (region), a good knowledge of the raindrop size distribution (DSD) and the rainfall rate estimates is necessary for accurate prediction and estimation of the rainfall attenuation. For this study, experimental raindrop size measurements gathered over a period of three years, using the Joss-Waldvogel RD-80 disdrometer installed at the roof top of the Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering building, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban, a subtropical location in South Africa, is analysed. Disdrometer measurements, sampled at one-minute rate over a period of nine months from Butare, an equatorial site in Rwanda, is also analysed for the purpose of comparison. The estimated R0.01 values for Durban and Butare are employed for the purpose of analysis. Based on the statistical analysis of the measured data samples, DSD parameters are proposed from the negative exponential, modified gamma, Weibull and the lognormal models. The DSD models are compared to models from other countries within and outside the region. The Mie scattering approximation at temperature of 20oC for spherical raindrop shape is adopted for the estimation of the scattering functions. The study further investigates the influence of critical raindrop diameters on the specific rain attenuation for the annual, seasonal and various rainfall regimes in southern Africa. This is achieved analytically by integrating the total rainfall attenuation over all the raindrop sizes and observing the differential change in the attenuation over a given range of drop size diameters. The peak diameter at which the specific rainfall attenuation is maxima is determined for different rainfall regimes. Finally, the cross-polarisation discrimination (XPD) due to rain over Durban is computed at two elevation angles. The results of this study will be helpful for the proper design and allocation of adequate fade margins to achieve the expected quality of service (QoS) in a radio communication system operating in the Southern Africa region. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2014.

The main objective of this study was to optimize processing conditions during halogen lamp-microwave combination baking of cake by using Response Surface Methodology. It was also aimed to compare quality of products baked in microwave-halogen lamp combination oven, halogen lamp oven, microwave oven and conventional oven. In the first part of the study, as independent variables, baking time for conventional oven / microwave power and baking time for microwave oven / halogen lamp power and baking time for halogen lamp oven and microwave power, halogen lamp power and baking time for halogen lamp-microwave combination oven were used. Weight loss, specific volume, firmness and color of the cakes were measured during the study. Cakes baked in conventional oven at 175&deg / C for 24 minutes were determined as the control cakes. Weight loss of cakes increased with increasing independent variables for all oven types. Specific volume and firmness of cakes increased with increasing microwave power, but decreased with upper halogen lamp power. Color formation was achieved in the combination baking but not as much as in the conventional baking. Response Surface Methodology was used to optimize the baking conditions in the second part of the study. Upper and lower halogen lamp powers, microwave power and baking time were used as independent variables. Optimum processing conditions were found as 60% for upper halogen lamp power, 70% for lower halogen lamp power, 30% for microwave power and 5 minutes for baking time. Cakes baked at optimum baking conditions had comparable quality with conventionally baked ones, except color. In short, by the usage of halogen lamp-microwave combination oven it was possible to obtain high quality cakes by reducing of conventional baking time about 79%.

Pelletizing is a size enlargement technique employed to process fine-grained iron-bearing concentrates and powder ores. Mechanical strength of fired pellets is important for handling. When the pellets undergo metallurgical processing, their mechanical strength is a measure of their resistance to degradation by breakage due to impacts and abrasion to which they are exposed in the upper part of the blast furnace. In this study, heat treatment of iron ore agglomerates with microwave energy is investigated. First drying and then heat hardening tests were performed. Two main properties of pellets were taken into consideration: percent moisture and magnetite content for the dried pellets and compressive strength and also magnetite content for the fired pellets. The tests were conducted with different particle sized pellets, in different durations. In order to increase the oxidation rate in heat hardening tests, Na2O2 is also added in different percentages. The results of the study showed that, magnetite pellets can indeed be dried and heated with microwave energy. However, the attained compressive strength and v the oxidation of the fired pellets were not sufficient as compared to pellets produced by conventional heating

This study investigates the manifestation of geometric features of turbine blades in signatures of non-optical time of arrival (ToA) probes. The approach enables an evaluation of the various signal characteristics used for defining ToA for a range of airfoil geometries and provides knowledge about additional waveform characteristics. The objective of this research is to increase the accuracy of microwave ToA probes by gaining a better understanding of the microwave signals in five steps. Firstly, ToA definitions used in the past are compared. Considering accuracy, computational effort, and versatility, the constant fraction crossing definition is found to be the most accurate. Secondly, an experimental apparatus capable of measuring airfoil ToA with microwave probes and optical probes as a reference is designed and built. As a third step, a catalog of 16 turbine blade geometries is developed. Fourthly, the signatures of these turbine blades are acquired using both the optical and the microwave probes. Finally, the impact of the geometric effects on the signatures is evaluated. The quality of the microwave results is found to be highly dependent on the polarization of the microwaves. Analysis of the time domain signal shows that decreasing the blade width, increasing the chord angle, or incorporating a blade tip pocket or a varying cross-section leads to a decrease in the amplitude of the peak caused by the blade. Increasing the blade width and incorporating a chord angle leads to an increase in peak width. A frequency domain analysis is conducted on the microwave signals and verified using a synthetic signal. This analysis confirms the findings from the time domain analysis. The time domain analysis of the laser measurements shows that the spatial resolution of the laser is much higher than that of the microwave sensor. Consequently, the signal acquired with the optical setup provides a good means of defining the blade ToA. The knowledge gained in this study about the sensor and its interaction with passing blade tips of varying geometry can be used to enhance the understanding of microwave ToA measurements. This knowledge provides further insight into airfoil and engine health.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2005. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: p. 213-239.

Thesis (MDes) - National School of Design, Swinburne University of Technology, 2008. / [Thesis submitted for degree of] Master of Design, to the [Faculty of Design], Swinburne University of Technology, 2008. Typescript. Bibliography: p. 159-165.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-03-28Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:16:50Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 fais_lmg_me_arafo.pdf: 941714 bytes, checksum: 824ebe7862b6ae859b4471c0b54f2cb3 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este estudo avaliou o efeito de métodos de esterilização físicos e químico sobre a eficiência de corte de fresas carbide. Sessenta fresas da marca S.S. White foram utilizadas para o desgaste de vidro (30 mm X 30 mm X 10 mm) e divididas em cinco grupos experimentais em função do tratamento realizado: E1 - esterilização em autoclave, E2 - esterilização em estufa, E3 - esterilização em forno de microondas, E4 - esterilização em substância química e E0 - ausência de esterilização (controle). Com o auxílio de um aparelho padronizador de desgaste, as fresas foram utilizadas para o desgaste do vidro em um total de 30 minutos divididos em doze períodos de 2,5 minutos. Após cada 2,5 minutos de uso, as fresas foram limpas com escova de nylon sob água corrente e secas com jatos de ar e, em seguida, submetidas as seus respectivos tratamentos. A eficiência de corte das fresas foi determinada pela perda de massa do vidro, que teve sua massa aferida antes e após cada período de desgaste. A soma ( ? ) da quantidade de desgaste realizado por cada fresa após os 12 ciclos de uso foi calculada e utilizada para se determinar a eficiência de corte após 30 minutos de uso. Os valores da ? foram submetidos à análise estatística pelos testes de Kruskal-Wallis e de Dunn. Diferenças estatisticamente significantes entre os grupos experimentais foram verificadas (p<0,05). De acordo com os resultados, entre os métodos de esterilização avaliados, o uso o calor seco foi responsável pelo melhor desempenho das fresas, ao contrário da utilização de glutaraldeído, que foi considerado o pior método de esterilização. / The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of physical and chemical sterilization methods on the cutting effectiveness of carbide burs. Sixty S.S. White burs were used to cut glass plates (30 mm X 30 mm X 10 mm) and subjected to the following procedures: S1 - sterilization by autoclave; S2 - sterilization by dry heat; S3 - sterilization by microwave irradiation; S4 - sterilization by chemical substance and S0 - no sterilization (control group). The burs were used to cut glass plates in a cutting machine for twelve 2.5-minute periods. After each period, the burs were cleaned with a nylon brush under running water, dried with air spray (40 seconds), and then subjected to their procedures respectively. The cutting effectiveness was calculated by the weight loss of the glass which was weighed before and after each 2.5-minute period. The sum ( ? ) of the cutting amount performed by each bur after twelve cycles of use were calculated and used to determine the cutting effectiveness after 30 minutes of use. The ? values were statistically analyzed by Kruskal-Wallisþs and Dunnþs tests. Statistical differences among the experimental groups were observed (p <.05). According to the results, among the sterilization methods, the use of dry heat was responsible for the best carbide burs performance and, the use of glutaraldehyde was responsible for the worst burs performance.