Microwave properties of surface modified Fe–Co–Zr alloy flakes with mechanochemically synthesized polystyrene

Abstract

Polystyrene coated Fe–Co–Zr alloy flakes have been prepared from gas atomized powders and styrene monomer by high energy ball milling. The effective complex permittivity and complex permeability of flakes/paraffin composites within 3.95–12 GHz were measured to assess the application potential of these products used as microwave absorbers. It is found that both the real and imaginary parts of complex permittivity substantially decrease with the increasing amount of reactant styrene. For the complex permeability, the real part of polystyrene coated samples is larger than those of the as-milled sample in high frequencies, however, the imaginary part exhibits a decline while resonance frequency shifts to high values. The calculated reflection loss curve suggests that a proper thickness of coating can redound to improve the absorbing performance of polystyrene coated Fe–Co–Zr alloy flakes in high frequency range.