Characterization and measurement of nanostructured copper-based electromagnetic wave absorber

ABSTRACT

Nanostructured microwave absorbing materials attract researchers because of their ability to combat electromagnetic (EM) pollution generated by high-speed electronic gadgets without interrupting gadget mobility. In the reported work, the nanosized meta copper material C2101 Kopu Tharma Loham also called nano twin crystalline copper metal fabricated as per ancient Indian metallurgical technology is characterized to ensure its microwave absorbing properties. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that the particle size of meta copper samples is 100 nm. Further, the melting temperature of meta copper material is 1135ºC higher than copper metal (1085ºC as per International copper standards) making the absorber thermally stable. The EM properties have been experimentally measured through different techniques for frequency ranging from 2 to 40 GHz. The loss tangent plots show that the proposed material performs better in X band. The reflection loss graphs are plotted for different sample thickness values and optimal reflection loss dip of −34.4 dB is obtained at 9.5 GHz for thickness of 2.2 mm. Proposed absorbing material can be integrated on an array substrate for sidelobe level reduction or can be incorporated on aircraft surface for radar cross-section reduction.

KEYWORDS:

• Electromagnetic absorber
• reflection loss
• absorption coefficients
• loss tangent
• permittivity

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Rasakalpa Ancient Indian Technology Development Center (RAITDC), Andhra Pradesh, India for fabricating the C2101 meta Cu material, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar, India for characterization of the material and Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering of Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology (SLIET), Longowal, Sangrur for providing access to High-Frequency Structural Simulator (HFSS) Software.