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In addition to the considerations above, there are some materials that generally would be better not to dry or dehydrate in a microwave. This is by no means intended to be a comprehensive list, just a few things off the top of my head:

A general conclusion from my disaster is that small amounts of material are a problem. Small amounts and microwave ovens aren't a good combination, and things that otherwise wouldn't be a problem can become a problem. If you need to use a microwave for small amounts, don't use power cycle timing. If you have an inverter microwave, set it on the lowest power that actually uses that power 100% of the time. Manually control the time for each microwave exposure.

In addition to the considerations above, there are some materials that generally would be better not to dry or dehydrate in a microwave. This is by no means intended to be a comprehensive list, just a few things off the top of my head:

A microwave can be a great alternative, but there are potential hazards to be aware of. This question and answer was triggered by something I've done successfully dozens of times, and today resulted in my material being contained in a molten blob of plastic fused onto the microwave turntable. Considerations of "safe" relate to both your material and the microwave and containers you're doing the drying in.

A microwave can be a great alternative, but there are potential hazards to be aware of. Considerations of "safe" relate to both your material and the microwave and containers you're doing the drying in.

This question and answer was triggered by something I've done successfully dozens of times, and today resulted in my material being contained in a molten blob of plastic fused onto the microwave turntable. The specifics of my disaster might be a bit unusual, but I'll include information that will apply to many situations where people might want to use the microwave to dry stuff.

A microwave can be a great alternative, but there are potential hazards to be aware of. This question and answer was triggered by something I've done successfully dozens of times, and today resulted in my material being contained in a molten blob of plastic fused onto the microwave turntable.

A microwave can be a great alternative, but there are potential hazards to be aware of. This question and answer was triggered by something I've done successfully dozens of times, and today resulted in my material being contained in a molten blob of plastic fused onto the microwave turntable. Considerations of "safe" relate to both your material and the microwave and containers you're doing the drying in.