Electromagnetic and microwave absorption properties of Ti₃SiC₂ powders decorated with Ag particles

Herein, we synthesized Ti₃SiC₂/Ag composite powders by electroless silver plating. The phase composition and morphology of the powders were characterized. It verified that Ag particles were attached on the surface of Ti₃SiC₂ powders. By measuring the complex permittivity and calculating the reflection loss, we found the dielectric constant of Ti₃SiC₂/Ag rises with the increasing Ag content. As the weight ratio of Ag increases from 0 to 30 wt%, the real part raises from 7.1 to 13.7 while the imaginary part enhances from 1.0 to 3.6. For the mixture containing Ti₃SiC₂-30 wt%Ag powders with a thickness of 2.0 mm, the reflection loss is the minimum and the RL value is −24 dB at 10.9 GHz. In addition, the minimum value of RL continuously moves to lower frequency region as the thickness increases. So we can adjust the microwave absorption performance of Ti₃SiC₂/Ag composite powders by changing the thickness and Ag content.