Electromagnetic shielding properties of ceramic spheres coated with paramagnetic metal
¹Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate 5, EE 12616 Tallinn, Estonia
²Faculty of Material Science and Applied Chemistry, Riga Technical University, 3 Paula Valdena str, LV-1048 Riga, Latvia
³Institute of Environmental Health and Safety, Jaam 14, EE 11615 Tallinn, Estonia
*Correspondence: tarmo.koppel@ttu.ee
Abstract:
This study utilized a setup of radiofrequency generating and metering instruments to measure the reflective and pass-through properties of the innovative material of paramagnetic metal coated ceramic hollow spheres (MCS). The dimensions of the spherical articles reside around 50–250 μm, the thickness of metal (Cu) coating is 0.5–1.3 μm. The radiofrequency field was of 2.4 GigaHertz (GHz) frequency and radiated towards the material via a waveguide-horn antenna at 100 mWt power output. Two additional waveguide-horn antennas connected to a radiofrequency analyzer measured the reflection and pass-through characteristics of the material. Reflection and pass-through coefficients (from 0 to 1) were calculated to each tested sample. The material was tested at different thicknesses: from single – to multi (up to 5) mono-layers and 5 mm layer in bulk condition of MCS.
The measurement results show insignificant shielding characteristics for 1 to 5 layer thickness samples: pass-through coefficient from 0.96 to 0.92. Noteworthy shielding characteristics were starting to show in case of MCS mixed with graphite emulsion: transmission coefficient dropped to 0.16.
The latter sample demonstrates the prospective shielding characteristics of the material, since most of the radiofrequency radiation was not allowed to pass through the material neither to be reflected, but absorbed within the structure of the material.
Key words:
absorption, cenospheres, electromagnetic fields, microwaves, shielding