Iron/silicon carbide composites with tunable high-frequency magnetic and dielectric properties for potential electromagnetic wave absorption

High-performance microwave absorption materials are desired to solve the electromagnetic interference and pollution problems. It has been recognized that the microwave absorption properties are highly correlated to the complex permittivity, the complex permeability, and their impedance matching, which could be achieved by composing dielectric and magnetic loss materials together. Here, we synthesized the core/shell structural Fe/SiC composites with tunable Fe/SiC ratios by a heat-assisted surface adhesion process. As a result, the mostly optimized absorbers could achieve the minimum reflection loss of −51 dB at the absorber thickness of 2.01 mm and the efficient absorption bandwidth (< −10 dB) is broadened to 7.6 GHz at the K-band (18–26.5 GHz). The present work provides a cost-effective strategy for synthesizing the Fe/SiC composites for microwave absorption applications. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]