Investigation of advanced radar absorber composite materials having high stealth technology to use in various military vehicles

The aim of the stealth technology, which has attracted great attention in the field of defense technologies in recent years, is to reduce the radar cross-sectional area (RCS) of the target object. Reducing the RCS can prevent the potential target object from being seen in enemy radar systems. Radar absorber materials are material groups that actively exhibit the stealth technology by losing the visibility of the target object by reducing and absorbing the energy of electromagnetic waves entering the material with the magnetic and dielectric loss mechanism. In this study, NixCo1-xFe2O4 (0≤x≤1with increments 0.25) and Niy:ZnO (y=0 and 0.1) nanoparticles were synthesized using the sol-gel method. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Distributed X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) analyzes were performed for determining the crystal structures, particle size and morphology, elemental analysis and magnetic characteristics of the produced nanoparticles, respectively. Various radar absorbing composite structures were obtained by using the epoxy casting method with the addition of the produced nanoparticles into the epoxy resin. Microwave absorption properties of nanoparticle reinforced epoxy matrix composite structures were characterized in the 8-12 GHz (X band) frequency range using a Vector Network Analyzer. In addition to the mechanical properties of composites were evaluated by applying hardness and impact test. It has been observed that the microwave absorption and mechanical properties of the nanoparticle reinforced epoxy matrix composite samples are satisfactory and can be used in potential military land, air and sea applications.