Rear earth (Re: Sc, Y, and Ce) modified PDCs-SiC ceramics for efficient microwave absorption

Material micromorphological design can effectively enhance electromagnetic properties, thus improving microwave absorption performance. In this paper, Re-SiC ceramics (Re: Sc, Y, Ce) were prepared using PDCs methods. The addition of various rare earth (Sc, Y, and Ce) produced improved microstructural, dielectric, and microwave absorption properties. The results indicate that Sc-SiC ceramic with an appropriately three-dimensional (3D) network structure improves the impedance matching characteristic and dielectric loss, therefore obtaining superior microwave absorption performance. The Sc-SiC ceramic effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) is 3.2 GHz with a thickness of 2.9 mm, and the minimum reflection coefficient (RC_min) is −10.8 dB at the X band. This remarkable microwave absorption property is ascribed to the 3D structure, interface polarization, dipole polarization, conductance loss, multiple reflections, and microwave scattering. Consequently, PDCs-SiC ceramics with appropriate structural decoration can be prospective candidates for application in harsh environments.