SETUP AND RESULTS OF PYRAMIDAL MICROWAVE ABSORBERS USING RICE HUSKS

Agricultural wastes are considered not useful and are commonly dumped or burned after crop harvesting. Rice husks from paddy (Oryza sativa) are example of agricultural wastes. Rice husks have been investigated as the material for the pyramidal microwave absorbers. The setup for the fabrication and measurement of the rice husks pyramidal microwave absorbers are discussed. An 8 x 8 array of pyramidal microwave absorber using the rice husks-polyester-MEKP mixture has been designed and fabricated. There are four main stages in this work: the collection of the raw rice husks materials, the mould fabrication, the pyramidal microwave absorber fabrication and the experiments performed to determine the reflection loss performance of the rice husks pyramidal microwave absorbers. Experimental results show close agreement with the simulation results (using CST Microwave Studio). Results so far have indicated that rice husks have great potential to be used as the materials for the pyramidal microwave absorbers.