Structural, magnetic properties and microwave absorbing behavior of iron based carbon nanocomposites

Abstract

Nanocomposite of α-Fe/C was successfully synthesized by mechanical milling method. Analytical-grade of α-Fe and graphite powders with a purity of greater than 99% were mixed. The mixture was milled for 50 hours at room temperature using High Energy Milling (HEM). The refinement results of X-ray diffraction pattern shows that the α-Fe/C nanocomposite consists of 20 wt% Fe and 80 wt% C. The mechanical milling resulted in α-Fe/C powders with mean particle size ~900 nm. The image reveals the morphology of particle and the particles that exist is aggregates of fine grains. The magnetic properties of the particle α-Fe/C nanocomposite showed low coercivity and high remanent magnetization. The α-Fe/C nanocomposite has certain microwave absorber properties in the frequency range of 9 – 15 GHz, with the maximum reflection loss reaches -10 dB at 12 GHz and the absorption range under −4 dB is from 11.2 to 15.5 GHz with 2 mm thickness. The study concluded that the α-Fe/C nanocomposite shows good candidate materials for microwave absorbing materials applications.