Preferred orientation of pores in ceramics under heating by a linearly polarized microwave field

A spherical pore in the ionic crystalline material subjected to a linearly polarized microwave radiation is shown to flatten along the electric field vector. The deformation of the pore occurs due to rectification of high-frequency flows of charged vacancies in the course of their nonlinear interaction with the electric field near the pore surface. The estimates show that the effect is most pronounced in the materials with a significant contribution of mobile vacancies into microwave absorption. Preferred orientation of pores has been observed experimentally in a zirconia ceramic sample sintered under heating by a linearly polarized microwave radiation.