Dielectric and microwave absorption properties of ZrB₂ / Al₂O₃ ceramic composite

ABSTRACT

Electromagnetic pollution has become a major problem affecting human health, which requires the scientific community to characterise materials that can solve this problem. In the present work, we studied the microwave absorption properties and complex permittivity of ZrB₂/Al₂O₃ ceramic composites in the X-band by simulation. The composites studied are based on alumina and reinforced with ZrB₂ particles. The concentration of ZrB₂ particles by volume in these composites are 0%, 5%, 10% and 15%. The results obtained show, on the one hand, that the complex permittivity depends on the frequency, and on the other hand, the high content of ZrB₂ remarkably increases the complex permittivity and improves the microwave absorption properties. The ZrB₂/Al₂O₃ composite with 5% by volume of ZrB₂ particles has better microwave absorption property than others. In this case, the minimum reflection loss is −26.36 dB at 11.5 GHz. For this composite, the RL bandwidth of less than −10 dB is 1.72 GHz, and it is obtained in the frequency range from 9.4 GHz to 10.5 GHz. The simulation results are in good agreement with the published experimental results. In addition, they indicate that the composites studied are favourable for microwave absorption applications in the X band.

KEYWORDS:

• Complex permittivity
• microwave absorption properties
• rectangular waveguide
• alumina
• ZrB₂
• transmission/reflection (T/R)
• X-band

Highlights

- The complex permittivity of ceramic composites depends on the frequency.

- The filling rate of the composites improves the microwave absorption properties

- Increasing the content of inclusions in the ceramic composite leads to an increase in the dielectric

property.

- Ceramic composites based in alumina are favourable in microwave absorption applications.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.