Continuous microwave sintering of tungsten carbide products

The continuous sintering process, which uses microwave energy, for high temperature processing of materials such as cemented tungsten carbides (WC) is discussed. It has advantages like quick movement of the parts into, through and out of the microwave energy zone, to ensure rapid heating, sintering, and quenching of parts for the desired properties. In continuous microwave processing, the energy is internally absorbed, efficiently converted to heat throughout the material, and the objects are continuously moved through the microwave hot zone with a fixed feeding rate. Microwave sintering helps in enhancing the abrasion and erosion resistance properties of nozzles, made up of nanophase carbide.