Reviews of microwave processing of ceramics in Japan

The microwave has been applied for processing of ceramics in Japan from the latter half of 1960's. The merits of microwave heating include, rapid heating, internal heating and selective heating. It enables ceramics to sinter in short times and at low temperature compared with conventional heating. However, there are few reports on electrical and mechanical properties of ceramics sintered by microwave heating. This paper presents in detail the excellent characteristics of ceramics sintered by microwave, and also the problems of microwave processing.