Electromagnetic and microwave absorption properties of Alnico powder composites

A novel application of Alnico powder as a thinner microwave absorbing material was investigated. The flake-like Alnico fine powder was found to have excellent complex permeability mu = mu' -j mu '' and permittivity epsilon = epsilon' -j epsilon '' in the frequency range of 2-18 GHz. The powder was made from extremely brittle ribbons which were produced using a single roller melt spinning technique. The dependences of the absorption characteristics on the frequency, thickness, and both the dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability were obtained based on a model in which an electromagnetic wave is incident normal to the surface of the absorbing material backed by a perfect conductor. The samples have the largest values of mu' and mu '' at 2 GHz. A minimum reflection loss of - 11.4 dB is obtained at 2 GHz for composite with volume fraction 60% of Alnico powder and absorber thickness of 1.8 mm. The results show that flake-like Alnico powder composites can be applied as thinner microwave absorbers in S-band (2-4 GHz). (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.