Dielectric and Radar-Absorbing Properties of Exfoliated Graphite Dispersed Epoxy Composites

Abstract

Electromagnetic absorbers based on carbonaceous materials, i.e., carbon black, polyaniline, polypyrrole, carbon fiber, etc., are prominently employed to attenuate incident electromagnetic waves. In the current work, exfoliated graphite (EG) was synthesized with swollen expanded volume from graphite flake by using a simple and inexpensive method. After synthesis, a series (8.9, 22.9, 33.3, 41.4 and 44.7 volume percentage) of EG–epoxy composites were prepared using a wet mixing method. EG and the prepared composites were characterized by x-ray diffraction analysis, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive x-ray analysis. An Agilent vector network analyzer (model PNA E8364B) was employed to compute the complex permittivity (er = e′ − je″) of the prepared composites in the frequency range of 2 GHz to 18 GHz. The dielectric loss of the prepared EG–epoxy composites was quantified in terms of the loss tangent (tanδe = e″/e′). Their radar absorption properties were evaluated in terms of the return loss (RL), which in turn was calculated for varying thicknesses of the prepared composites using the computed complex permittivity data. The measured minimum RL was −26.4 dB for the absorber with thickness of 4.0 mm, and the bandwidth achieved was 5.2 GHz for RL ≤ − 10 dB in the effective frequency region of 8 GHz to 14 GHz. The matching frequency shifted towards downwards with increasing EG content in the epoxy thermosetting matrix according to both the calculated and measured data. Consequently, the prepared composites exhibited good complex permittivity, dielectric tangent loss, and microwave absorption and could be utilized in the design of electromagnetic interference shielding and absorbers for stealth applications.