A novel
hybrid foam composite consisting of the three-dimensional
(3D) interconnected carbon foam (CF) and ultrathin silicon carbide
(SiC) coating was prepared via the carbonization, chemical vapor infiltration,
and chemical vapor deposition process. By means of incorporating the
pyro carbon and SiC coating on the surface of the CF skeleton, not
only the thermostability and compression resistance but also the electromagnetic
absorption performances of the as-prepared composites were enhanced.
The results were that the novel hybrid foam was thermostable, as beyond
87% weight remained in the air atmosphere at 700 °C, and the
strong compression strength explored the potential application in
the critical environments. As expected, the foam possessed an excellent
electromagnetic absorption property with the minimum reflection loss
of −37.189 dB at 13.92 GHz at 2.0 mm. It indicated that the
SiC coating with bridged junctions, twinning interfaces, and abundant
stacking faults took great effect on the improvement of the electromagnetic
absorption property, as well as the contribution of the 3D open-cell
network.