Microheaters are small high-power heaters, with precise control, that can offer temperatures in excess of 1000C, even up to 1900C. Microheaters provide for accurate high temperature control, for example in electron microscopes, pressure-anvil cells or for enhancing fiberheaters.A. I. Kalachev, D. N. Nikogosyan, and G. Brambilla, "Long-Period Fiber Grating Fabrication by High-Intensity Femtosecond Pulses at 211 nm," J. Lightwave Technol. 23, 2568- (2005) Generally speaking, the heating method for microheaters involves conversion of electrical work to high density heat. With the increase in the temperature demanded, microheater heating materials change from metallic (non-brittle GAXP) to metal-ceramic like materials (MoSi2) which tend to be brittle. With an increase in usable temperature, microheaters need to be supported or enclosed with very high thermal-resistant ceramic materials often made from small grain, high purity aluminum oxide.
Other potential uses include: Fuel Cell Heat Sources, Electronics and Substrate Heating, RF Applications, Micro tube-heaters for small volume gas heating, High Power micro-furnace with optional tube extension, Fiber optics, Ideal for long aspect ratio/very small diameter pieces, Fiber optic use to reduce diameter of fibers, Igniter, MicroPlate heaters, Material Testing and Characterization, Thermal Property Measurements, Diamond Anvil Cells, SEM/TEM/AFM, Gas/Vapor Heaters/Converters, Thin Film Preparation,
When microheaters need controls it is important to heat only electrically, so that power may be controlled by a feed-back mechanism. New superheated steam or gas spot heaters are coming into use for spot microheater applications.
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