Effect of activated carbon/in situ synthesized magnetite hybrid fillers on the microwave properties of natural rubber composites

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to synthesize nanosized magnetite in situ the nanosized porous texture of activated carbons and to examine the impact of the resulting hybrid filler upon the microwave properties and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of composites based on natural rubber. The fillers have been characterized by X-ray diffraction and photoelectron spectroscopy establishing the influence of the magnetite layer on the texture characteristics. Studies have been carried out on the effect that the fillers synthesized have on the microwave properties, the real and imaginary part of the permittivity and permeability as well as on the dielectric and magnetic loss angle tangent of the composites. It has been found that filler comprising externally about 5% of magnetite phase is the most effective. The introduction of the magnetic phase contributes to the improvement in the microwave characteristics and expanding the frequency range in which the composites are of good microwave properties due to the combination of high dielectric and the high magnetic losses. Copyright © 2017 VBRI Press.