Study on mechanical properties and X-band microwave absorption properties of ER/SiCp/SiCf ternary composites

Abstract

Despite the great advantages of the rapid developments in communication technology, it induces several serious intractable problem related to the electromagnetic interference with the environment and human civilization itself. To curb such issues, there is an urgent surge for the research on developing innovative microwave absorbing materials with improved corrosion and oxidation resistance, mechanical properties and microwave absorbing capabilities. In this context, this work is devoted to the facile synthesis of silicon carbide absorbing agents in powder (SiCp) and fiber (SiCf) structure using high-temperature carbothermic reduction process followed by catalyst induction method. Then the two materials were added into epoxy resin (ER, type E51) with different mass concentrations resulting in ER/SiCp/SiCf ternary composites as consequence of hot press molding process. The mechanical properties and microwave absorption performance in the X-band were studied. It is found that the introduction of SiCp/SiCf with excellent mechanical strength can significantly increase the tensile strength and bending strength of the ER subtract, which has a good toughening effect. The reasonable relative ratio of SiCp to SiCf brings favorable absorptipon performance to the composite material having a minimum reflection loss of the optimal sample in the X-band (RLmin = −63.91 dB), and the effective bandwidth is fE = 1.6 GHz. It is proved that integrating silicon carbide wave absorbing agent with high-performance resin is an effective strategy for designing microwave absorbing composite materials with improved performance.