Electrophoretic deposition of spherical carbonyl iron particles on carbon fibers as a microwave absorbent composite

Carbonyl iron (CIPs) micron size spherical particles were deposited on carbon fibers by electrophoretic deposition method (EPD). A well stabilized suspension of CIPs was prepared in acetone-ethanol media and two different stabilizer of Iodine and Trietanolamine (TEA) were used to investigate stability of suspension. X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) was employed to study structure of CIPs, CFs and CFs/CIPs composite. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) images were taken to see the morphology of CFs and deposited particles. Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and zeta potential test were carried out to study the stability of particles and also to see the average particle size of powder. To investigate magnetic and reflection loss properties, Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) and Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) were used, respectively. Uniformly coated fibers were selected to make composites and results revealed that the best Reflection Loss (RL) was related to CFs coated for 20 minutes in a bath containing iodine with a layer thickness of 2 mm. Maximum recorded RL was found to be -13.8 dB at frequency of 9.22 GHz.