what purpose does the Hot Pockets sleeve serve?
In: Physics
That sleeve is called a *susceptor*, and its job is to apply heat directly to the surface of your food.
A susceptor is a film, usually plastic, with a layer of metal applied to it via a process called vapor deposition. This creates a very, very thin layer of metal on the plastic, which is important: you don’t want a lot of metal in a microwave.
What the metal does, however, is absorb the microwave radiation inside the oven and convert it to thermal radiation (heat). When the susceptor fits snugly around the food, it creates a slight browning and crisping of the surface; when there’s a gap between the food and the susceptor film, it creates a much higher degree of browning and crisping.
In the case of Hot Pockets, it makes sure that you have a crispy product rather than something soggier and less defined.
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