Effective modeling of microwave heating scenarios including susceptors

A new model of microwave susceptors for FDTD simulations of electromagnetic heating phenomena is developed. Susceptors are thin metal coatings inside microwaveable food packages used to enhance the heating effects. Their modelling is crucial for accurate design of microwave ovens and food packages. It is shown that susceptors of typical parameters cannot be directly meshed (due to small thicknesses) and cannot be treated with previous FDTD models of lossy metals (due to semi-transparency). The new model proposed herein consists of a surrogate plate of increased thickness and scaled material parameters, conserving the original susceptor surface resistivity. It is proven that the model is sufficiently accurate and computationally effective.