Material processing system based on a gyrotron powered millimeter-wave beam

Summary form only given. The high intensity millimeter-wave beams (10/sup 3/-10/sup 5/ W/cm/sup 2/) that can be generated by powerful gyrotron oscillators have unique capabilities for rapid, selective heating to extremely high temperatures of nonmetallic materials. A new CW gyrotron based material processing system is being set up at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) jointly by NRL, and the Center for Remote Sensing (CRS) to investigate the application of such beams to important areas of material processing including: coating of materials, soldering and brazing, and treatment of ceramics and polymers. This paper will describe the processing system, including the gyrotron, work chamber, and control system; and the characteristics of the Gaussian-type beam which can be focussed and manipulated to produce beam cross sections of various sizes and shapes. The development of novel processing techniques for applications such as brazing ceramics to ceramics and ceramics to metals with high temperature brazes and solders will be discussed.