Coupled electromagnetic thermal and kinetic modeling for microwave processing of polymers with temperature- and cure-dependent permittivity using 3D FEM

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.