Preparation of paraffin wax-modified floating aluminum powder and composite coating with infrared stealth and wave-transparent function

Abstract

Low Infrared (IR) emissivity coatings in military aerospace need to meet both stealth and radar transmission. At present, there are few research on this aspect, therefore how to solve the compatibility problem of low infrared emissivity and high radar wave transmission rate of materials is an important direction for the development of infrared stealth materials. A multi-functional composite coating with low IR emissivity, dielectric loss, and antistatic properties was prepared using modified floating aluminum powder (Al@PW), short-cut carbon fiber, and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) as the binder. The coating's properties were investigated, highlighting the effect of PW. The results indicate that modifying floating Al powder with PW is an effective solution to the trade-off between low IR emissivity and high wave transparency. At a dosage of 11 g (about 12.5 wt% in Al@PW), the coating demonstrated the best overall performance, including the IR emissivity of 0.582, the surface resistivity of 9.5 MΩ/□, the dielectric constant of 5.15, the dielectric loss angle tangent of 0.052, the tensile strength of 11.75 MPa, and the elongation at break of 516.10%. The composite coating may be used as a multi-functional protective coating for airborne radomes.