The heating of a dielectric material, such as a plastic, by applying a radio-frequency electric field to it. The most common method is to treat the material as the dielectric between the plates of a capacitor. The heat produced is proportional to V2fAϕ/t, where V is the applied potential difference, f its frequency, A is the area of the dielectric, t its thickness, and ϕ is the loss factor of the material (related to its permittivity).