Microwave absorption properties of carbon black and tetrapod-like ZnO whiskers composites

CB/T-ZnO/EP composites were prepared using carbon black (CB) and tetrapod-like ZnO whiskers (T-ZnO) as absorbents and epoxy resin (EP) as binder. The electromagnetic parameters and microwave absorption properties of the composites were measured in the frequency range of 2–18 GHz. The influences of absorbents concentration and composites thickness on microwave absorption properties were studied. Results show that the minimum reflection loss for CB/T-ZnO/EP composites is −19.31 dB at 10.4 GHz and the bandwidth corresponding to reflection loss blow −5 dB is 9.68 GHz, when the content of CB and T-ZnO whiskers are 7 wt% and 13 wt%, respectively, and the composites thickness is 3 mm. The mechanisms of microwave absorption performance for CB/T-ZnO/EP composites were briefly discussed. It is supposed that CB/T-ZnO/EP composites have the potential to be applied as microwave absorber with high microwave-absorption and light weight.