Synthesis and characterization of nanoparticles reinforced epoxy based advanced radar absorbing composites

In this study, the structural and magnetic properties of NixCo1?xFe2O4 (0.0? x? 1.0) and ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by the sol-gel method were investigated. The microwave property of the composite structures produced from the combination of ZnO and NixCo1?xFe2O4 nanoparticles dispersed in the epoxy matrix property was studied in the X-band frequency range. The crystal structures of NixCo1?xFe2O4 have not been disrupted by Ni substitution, however, the lattice parameters of samples decrease due to the smaller ionic radii of Ni+2 compared to Co+2 ions. The magnetic saturation (Ms) and remanence magnetization (Mr) decreased with an increasing amount of Ni in NixCo1?xFe2O4 structure. According to the microwave absorption properties of samples, the maximum reflection loss (RL) value was found as ?28.10 dB at 10.23 GHz frequency in RAC4 sample. On the other hand, maximum bandwidth was found at 2.95 GHz around ?10 dB for RAC5 sample. All composites exhibit efficient RL in the X-band indicating that they can be used in potential applications in aviation, radar, and defense vehicles. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.