Investigating Enhanced Microwave Absorption of CNTs@Nd0.15-BaM/PE Plate via Low-Temperature Sintering and High-Energy Ball Milling

Abstract

Composite plates comprising a blend of rare earth neodymium-(Nd) doped M-type barium ferrite (BaM) with CNTs (carbon nanotubes) and polyethylene WERE synthesized through a self-propagating reaction and hot-pressing treatment. The plates’ microscopic characteristics were analyzed utilizing X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR), thermo–gravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analytical techniques. Their microwave absorption performance within the frequency range of 8.2 to 18 GHz was assessed using a vector network analyzer. It showed that CNTs formed a conductive network on the surface of the Nd-BaM absorber, significantly enhancing absorption performance and widening the absorption bandwidth. Furthermore, dielectric polarization relaxation was investigated using the Debye theory, analyzing the Cole–Cole semicircle. It was observed that the sample exhibiting the best absorbing performance displayed the most semicircles, indicating that the dielectric polarization relaxation phenomenon can increase the dielectric relaxation loss of the sample. These findings provide valuable data support for the lightweight preparation of BaM-based absorbing materials.