Microwave-material interactions and dielectric properties, key ingredients for mastery of chemical microwave processes

The main focus of the revised edition of this first chapter is essentially the same as the original – to explain in a chemically intelligible fashion the physical origin of microwave–matter interactions and, especially, the theory of dielectric relaxation of polar molecules. This revised version contains approximately 60 % new material to scan a large range of reaction media able to be heated by microwave heating. The accounts presented are intended to be illustrative rather than exhaustive. They are planned to serve as introductions to the different aspects of interest in comprehensive microwave heating. In this sense the treatment is selective and to some extent arbitrary. Hence the bibliography contains historical papers and valu-able reviews to which the reader anxious to pursue particular aspects should cer-tainly turn. It is the author’s conviction, confirmed over many years of teaching experience, that it is much safer – at least for those who rate not trained physicists – to deal intelligently with an oversimplified model than to use sophisticated methods which require experience before becoming productive. Because of comments about the first edition, however, the author has included more technical material to en-able better understanding of the concepts and ideas. These paragraphs could be omitted, depending on the level of comprehension of the reader. They are preceded by two different symbols – k for TOOLS andj for CONCEPTS. After consideration of the history and position of microwaves in the electromag-netic spectrum, notions of polarization and dielectric loss will be examined. The orienting effects of electric fields and the physical origin of dielectric loss will be analyzed, as also will transfers between rotational states and vibrational states within condensed phases. Dielectric relaxation and dielectric losses of pure liquids, ionic solutions, solids, polymers and colloids will be discussed. Effect of electrolytes, relaxation of defects within crystals lattices, adsorbed phases, interfacial relaxation, space charge polar-ization, and the Maxwell–Wagner effect will be analyzed. Next, a brief overview o