Dielectric and microwave absorption properties of TiAlCo ceramic fabricated by atmospheric plasma spraying

Composite TiAlCo powders (TiO₂, Co₃O₄ and Al₂O₃) were synthesized by spray-drying technology. The phase composition and morphology of synthesized powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Using above synthesized powders as starting materials, TiAlCo ceramic were successfully prepared by atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) with an internally fed powder torch. Electromagnetic parameters and microwave absorption properties of the prepared ceramic coatings were investigated in the frequency range from 8.2 to 12.4 GHz (X-band). It was found that both the real part and imaginary part of dielectric constant decreases with increasing Al₂O₃ content in the whole measured frequency region. Dielectric properties are closely related to the relaxation polarization and interfacial polarization and electric conductivity. Furthermore, by combination of the frequency selective surfaces (FSS) and prepared coatings, a double absorption band of the reflection loss spectra had been observed in X-band. The optimized reflection loss values exceeding -10 dB can be obtained in the frequency range of X-band when the coating thickness is only 1.8 mm, and the reflection loss is insensitive to incident angle from 0° to 45° for both transverse electromagnetic (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarizations.