Microwave absorption properties of carbon black and tetrapod-like ZnO whiskers composites

Abstract

CB/T-ZnO/EP composites were prepared using carbon black (CB) and tetrapod-like ZnO whiskers (T-ZnO) as absorbents and epoxy resin (EP) as binder. The electromagnetic parameters and microwave absorption properties of the composites were measured in the frequency range of 2–18GHz. The influences of absorbents concentration and composites thickness on microwave absorption properties were studied. Results show that the minimum reflection loss for CB/T-ZnO/EP composites is −19.31dB at 10.4GHz and the bandwidth corresponding to reflection loss blow −5dB is 9.68GHz, when the content of CB and T-ZnO whiskers are 7wt% and 13wt%, respectively, and the composites thickness is 3mm. The mechanisms of microwave absorption performance for CB/T-ZnO/EP composites were briefly discussed. It is supposed that CB/T-ZnO/EP composites have the potential to be applied as microwave absorber with high microwave-absorption and light weight.