Synthesis and characterization of cocoa pods waste carbon for Radar Absorber Material

Abstract

Synthesis and characterization of Radar Absorber Material (RAM) has been done. The raw material of the carbon is waste cocoa pods as dielectric material. An activated carbon of waste cocoa pods has porous and large inner surface that has high absorbency and can be implemented as alternative RAM. The carbon was prepared using carbonization and activated using chemicals activator KOH and HCL. The active carbon is characterized using a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) to investigate the return loss for variation of the thickness of the material in the frequency range 4 to 8GHz (C-band). Morphology characterization is performed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The experiment result obtain the maximum absorption of the developed carbon is −14.0dB at 8mm thickness with 1M KOH activation substances. The result shows the reflectivity response of the carbon is satisfied in the frequency range of studied. The SEM measurement present the activated carbon has more porous compare to a non activated carbon. Based on this study, a carbon active of waste cocoa pods can be used as a RAM.