A strategy to fabricate lightweight multifunctional microwave absorbing composite with load-bearing and infrared stealth by modified 3D integrated hollow E-glass fiber

Abstract

It is still a challenging issue to achieve the compatibility of lightweight and high load-bearing of the microwave absorbing material. Inspired by structural composites and aerogel, a multi-cavity structure aerogel-like by modified insulation cavity (hollow glass microsphere@Ni) /epoxy resin is built in the centimeter-scale cavity of 3D integrated hollow E-glass fiber to design the lightweight and high-strength of the micowave absorbing material to eliminate the above contradictions. The special structure and impedance gradient matching design induce multiple reflections and scattering of microwave, which makes the composite have excellent impedance matching and a wide effective absorbing bandwidth (EAB) of 11.65 GHz. In terms of mechanics, the synergistic effect of the Ni(OH)2 interface modified E-glass fiber and aerogel-like structure filling makes its three-point bending mechanical properties change by an order of magnitude (from 4.64 MPa to 88.05 MPa) and has excellent load-bearing capacity. In addition, the special structural design enables the composite to have a good temperature regulation function, which can produce a temperature drop of 142.1 ℃ at 360 ℃, realizing infrared stealth performance in medium and low temperature environments. This work proposes a strategy for developing economical, lightweight, microwave absorbing, and load-bearing integrated multifunctional composites for future applications.