Temperature Profiles in Dough Heated With a Susceptor in the Microwave Oven

A model based on energy considerations for predicting temperature profiles in a microwaved dough placed in contact with a susceptor was developed. Using a commercial finite element software (“Ansys 5.01”), for an axisymmetric and transient heat transfer problem, the temperatures at the dough/susceptor interface and in the whole dough were calculated. The calculated temperatures at the susceptor/dough interface were superimposed on previously published curves (based on a correlation relating temperatures at the interface with heating time, dough and susceptor parameters) and compared to experimentally determined values. A very good agreement between the experimentally determined temperatures and the values predicted from this model and from the previously described correlation was obtained. In the dough, an uneven temperature distribution in the radial direction, caused mainly by evaporative cooling at the surface, was predicted. The calculated temperatures for different susceptors, heating times and various locations in the dough correlated well with experimentally determined values.