Investigation of cobalt substituted M-type barium ferrite synthesized via co-precipitation method for radar absorbing material in Ku-band (12–18 GHz)

Abstract

In present work, cobalt substituted M-type barium nanoferrite of composition BaCoxFe12−x O19 with x = 0.4, 0.8 and 1.0 were prepared via a co-precipitation method. After appropriate heat treatments the samples were characterized by X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman Spectroscopy (RS) and Vector Network Analyzer (VNA). XRD confirmed the formation of pure single phase M-type barium ferrite with an average crystallite size in the range 65–85nm. FESEM confirmed the formation of hexagonal platelets with an average grain size of in the range 250–325nm. Vibrational bands at 466cm−1 and 580cm−1 confirmed the strong Me-O bond. Raman vibrational modes at 329cm−1 and 676cm−1 confirmed both, the strong Me-O bond and M-type barium ferrite formation. Electromagnetic properties were studied by measuring real part and imaginary part of permittivity and permeability in the frequency range of 12–18GHz (Ku band). The maximum reflection loss of −45dB was found to be at x = 1.0 which makes this composition a suitable candidate for Radar Absorbing Material (RAM) in Ku band.