Electromagnetic and absorption properties of some microwave absorbers

A. N. Yusoff, M. H. Abdullah, S. H. Ahmad, S. F. Jusoh, A. A. Mansor, and S. A. A. Hamid

Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 92, 876 (2002); doi: 10.1063/1.1489092
View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1489092
View Table of Contents: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/92/2?ver=pdfcov
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JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS

VOLUME 92, NUMBER 2

15 JULY 2002

Electromagnetic and absorption properties of some microwave absorbers

A. N. Yusoffa)
Diagnostic Imaging and Radiotherapy Programme, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

M. H. Abdullah, S. H. Ahmad, and S. F. Jusoh

School of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

A. A. Mansor and S. A. A. Hamid

Department of Physics, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 26400 Jengka, Pahang Darul Makmur, Malaysia

Received 29 June 2001; accepted for publication 6 May 2002

Electromagnetic properties of a thermoplastic natural rubber TPNR, a lithiumnickelzinc Li
NiZn ferrite and a TPNRferrite composite subjected to transverse electromagnetic TEM wave
propagation were investigated. The incorporation of the ferrite into the matrix of the TPNR was
found to reduce the dielectric loss but the magnetic loss increased. The absorption characteristics of
all the samples subjected to a normal incidence of TEM wave were investigated based on a model
of a single-layered plane wave absorber backed by a perfect conductor. It is evident from a computer
simulation that the ferrite is a narrowband absorber, whereas the polymeric samples show broadband
absorption characteristics. Minimal reflection of the microwave power or matching condition occurs
when the thickness of the absorbers approximates an odd number multiple of a quarter of the
propagating wavelength. This is discussed as due to cancellation of the incident and reflected waves
at the surface of the absorbers. The LiNiZn ferrite exhibits another matching condition at low
frequency when the magnitude of the complex relative dielectric permittivity ( r* ) equals that of the
complex relative magnetic permeability ( r* ). The specular absorber method provides a simple
theoretical graphic aid for determining the absorption characteristics and the location of the
matching conditions in the frequency domain. The result for the ferrite sample was tested and
confirmed directly from terminated one-port measurements. 2002 American Institute of Physics.
DOI: 10.1063/1.1489092

I. INTRODUCTION

The increase in electromagnetic pollution due to the

rapid development of gigahertz GHz electronic systems
and telecommunications has resulted in a growing and intense interest in electromagnetic-absorber technology. Electromagnetic interference EMI can cause severe interruption
of electronically controlled systems. It can cause device malfunctions, generate false images, increase clutter on radar
and reduce performance because of system-to-system coupling. These are some of the reasons why the use of selfgenerated electromagnetic radiation apparatuses, which include cellular telephones, wireless computer and pagers, are
strictly prohibited in certain areas, for example, in hospitals,
banks, petrol stations and inside airplanes. To overcome the
problems created by EMI, electromagnetic wave absorbers
with the capability of absorbing unwanted electromagnetic
signals are used, and research on their electromagnetic and
absorption properties is still being carried out.1,2 Recent developments in microwave absorber technology have resulted
in materials that can effectively reduce the reflection of electromagnetic signals, on the one hand, and have good physical
performance and lower production cost on the other.3,4 There
a

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; electronic mail:

nazlim@medic.ukm.my

are a variety of absorber materials that can be used to suppress EMI depending on whether they are suitable for
narrow- or broadband absorption and for low- or highfrequency applications. In the microwave region, commonly
used dielectric materials are foams, plastics, rubbers, thermoplastics, natural rubbers and polypyrroles. These nonmagnetic, environmentally resistant absorbers often contain magnetic materials such as ferrites, iron or cobaltnickel alloys
as fillers. By incorporation of the magnetic fillers, the values
of the dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability of
the materials can be altered to achieve maximal absorption of
the electromagnetic energy. An ideal absorber must fulfill the
relation5 that r* r* , where r* r j r is the complex
relative dielectric permittivity, with r the real part or dielectric constant and r the imaginary part or dielectric loss, and
r* r j r is the complex relative magnetic permeability, with r the real magnetic permeability and r the magnetic loss.
The specular absorber method has been widely used by
several workers as a theoretical approach in explaining the
propagation characteristics of a transverse electromagnetic
TEM wave in a single-layer absorber backed by a perfect
conductor.6,7 This method is based on the assumption that the
dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability are intrinsic properties of the material. For a wave normally incident
on the surface of a single-layer absorber backed by a perfect

0021-8979/2002/92(2)/876/7/$19.00
876
2002 American Institute of Physics
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J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 92, No. 2, 15 July 2002

Yusoff et al.

877

conductor, the input impedance (Z in at the airmaterial interface is given by Z inZ 0 ( r* / r* ) 1/2 tanh(t), where Z 0
( 0 / 0 )377 is the intrinsic impedance of free space,
j ( r* r* ) 1/2 /c is the propagation factor in the material, is the angular frequency, c is the speed of light and t
is the thickness of the sample.8,9 The reflection coefficient

is
defined
as
(Z in /Z 0 1)/(Z in /Z 0 1)
The
( r* / r* ) 1/2 tanh(t)1/(r*/r*)1/2 tanh(t)1.
power reflectivity or the reflection loss (R L ), in decibels
dB, can be written as R L 20 log10 . The dip in R L indicates the occurrence of absorption or minimal reflection of
the microwave power. The intensity and the frequency at the
reflection loss minimum, therefore, depend on the properties
and thickness of the materials.
In this article, we report the microwave dielectric, magnetic and absorption properties of a thermoplastic natural
rubber TPNR that is composed of 70 wt % polypropylene
PP, 20 wt % natural rubber NR and 10 wt % liquid natural rubber LNR, a LiNiZn ferrite and a composite that
consist of 70 wt % of the TPNR and 30 wt % of the Li
NiZn ferrite. The effects of incorporating the ferrite into the
matrix of the TPNR on the absorption characteristics of the
material are examined and discussed.

II. MATERIALS AND METHODS

A polycrystalline Li0.2Ni0.3Zn0.3Fe2.2O4 LiNiZn ferrite was prepared by a double sintering method in air. Powders of high purity Li2O 99.5%, NiO 99.995%, ZnO
99.999% and Fe2O3 99.998% were weighed, mixed and
ground thoroughly for 2 h in the desired stoichiometric composition together with 0.5 wt % Bi2O3 99.999%. The mixture was presintered at 800 C for 6 h and subsequently furnace cooled to room temperature. The prereacted mixture
was then reground for another 2 h. A cylindrically shaped
ferrite sample 5.0 mm in diameter and 5.0 mm in thickness
was molded under pressure of about 300 MPa. A small quantity of polyvinyl alcohol PVA was used as a binding agent.
The powder and the cylinder were then sintered at 1050 C
for 15 h and furnace cooled to room temperature. A toroid
sample of 3.5 mm outside diameter and 1.6 mm inner diameter was machined from the ferrite cylinder for the microwave measurements.
The TPNR matrix was prepared by melt blending PP,
NR, and LNR in a weight ratio10,11 of 70:20:10 with the LNR
as the compatibilizer. The LNR, which was prepared by photosynthesized degradation of NR in visible light, was
blended with NR and PP in a laboratory cam mixer model
Brabender Plasticorder PL 200 at 170 C at a rotating speed
of 50 rpm. The NR and LNR were allowed to mix for about
2 min before the PP was introduced. After 12 min of mixing,
the homogeneous TPNR mixture was removed from the
mixer and ground in a granulator machine model Ph 400
SS. The desired amounts of the TPNR mixture 70 wt %
and of ferrite powder 30 wt % were mixed in the sample
machine and blended in a similar manner. The TPNR and the
composite were molded into a thin sheet 5.0 mm thick using
compression molding under pressure of about 700 MPa at

FIG. 1. a Two-port coaxial fixture used in measuring the complex scattering parameters (S *
11 and S *
21), and b one-port terminal short fixture for
* ).
measuring the reflection scattering parameter (S 11

175 C. Toroidal samples of 3.5 mm outside diameter and

1.6 mm inner diameter were prepared from the TPNR and
TPNRferrite sheets.
The scattering parameters of the toroidal samples that
* and S 22
* and transmission
correspond to the reflection (S 11
* and S 12
* of a TEM wave were measured using a Hewlett
(S 21
Packard 8719D microwave vector network analyzer. The
measurement was performed in the frequency range of 113
GHz. The toroids tightly fit into a 3.5 mm coaxial measurement cell. Full two-port calibration was initially performed
on the test setup in order to remove errors due to the directivity, source match, load match, isolation and frequency response in both the forward and reverse measurements. Figure
1a shows the coaxial fixture used in measuring the scattering parameters. The real and the imaginary components of
the complex dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability were determined from the complex scattering parameters
using the NicolsonRoss12 for magnetic and precision13
for nonmagnetic models. The dependences of the absorption characteristics on the frequency, thickness and both the
dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability were obtained based on a model in which an electromagnetic wave is
incident normal to the surface of the material backed by a
perfect conductor. R L was also measured by the terminated
* test fixture, as shown in
one-port technique using a short S 11

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J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 92, No. 2, 15 July 2002

FIG. 2. Frequency dependence of the complex scattering parameters S *

11
* of the TPNR , the TPNRferrite composite and the
and S 21
Li0.2Ni0.3Zn0.3Fe2.2O4 ferrite toroids.

Fig. 1b. In this case R L 20 log10 S 11 . The simulated data

are compared to those from the experimental one-port
technique.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The frequency dependences of the complex scattering

* , for all samples are shown in Fig. 2.
* and S 21
parameters, S 11
*
The TPNR and TPNRferrite composite show a lower S 11
* . The S parameters for the LiNiZn ferrite sample
than S 21
are different from the other two polymeric samples with
* and lower S 21
* . This indicates that the ferrite rehigher S 11
flects more but transmits less microwave energy than the
other two samples over the whole frequency range. The difference in reflectivity and transmittivity among the samples
can be suggested to be due to the differences in their microstructures, dielectric and magnetic properties. The LiNiZn
ferrite is crystalline with high magnetic moment whereas
TPNR is nonmagnetic and semicrystalline in nature. The effects of microstructure, dielectric and magnetic properties of
the ferrite materials on microwave propagation was briefly
discussed elsewhere.6,7 The incorporation of the ferrite into
the TPNR matrix is found to have only a small effect on the
reflection and transmission properties, but there is a tendency
for the TPNRferrite composite to behave like the ferrite.
* and S 12
* are similar to those of S *
*
The plots of S 22
11 and S 21
*
but are not shown. The similarity between S *
and
S
and
11
22

Yusoff et al.

FIG. 3. Frequency dependence of the real ( r ) and the imaginary ( r ) parts

of the complex dielectric permittivity of the TPNR , TPNRferrite composite and the Li0.2Ni0.3Zn0.3Fe2.2O4 ferrite samples.

* and S 21
* for all the samples indicates their recibetween S 12
procity in the absence of an external magnetic field.
Figure 3 shows r and r values for the three samples in
the frequency range of 113 GHz. It can be clearly seen that
all samples show an almost constant r value throughout the
whole frequency range used in this work. The most probable
mechanism in this frequency range is orientational
polarization.14 This is supported by the fact that neither relaxation nor resonant type behavior is present in the r plot.
Furthermore, the atomic and electronic polarizations occur at
a period shorter than the period of a microwave. The ferrite
shows the highest r value followed by the TPNRferrite
composite and the TPNR matrix. The mechanism of polarization in the ferrite at microwave frequencies is dependent
on the availability of ions of different valences and it is believed that the orientational polarization in the ferrite is
mainly a result of the process of electron transfer between
ferrous (Fe2) and ferric (Fe3 ions.15,16 The dielectric loss,
however, is not constant over the whole frequency range.
The polymeric samples show a gradual decrease of r towards high frequencies, but r for the TPNR is always
higher than that for the TPNRferrite composite. The frequency variation of the dielectric loss for the ferrite is different from that of the two polymeric samples. The loss if almost constant between 2 and 8 GHz, but increases slightly

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J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 92, No. 2, 15 July 2002

FIG. 4. Frequency dependence of the real ( r ) and the imaginary ( r )

parts of the complex magnetic permeability of the TPNR , TPNRferrite
composite and the Li0.2Ni0.3Zn0.3Fe2.2O4 ferrite samples. The inset
shows the occurrence of ferrimagnetic or spin resonance in the TPNR
ferrite composite sample.

for frequencies below 2 and above 8 GHz. The dielectric loss

in the samples can be described as due to the contributions
from both the dc conductivity and the ac conductivity or ion
jump and dipole relaxation based on the expression2,17 r
, where dc is the dc conductivity, is
dc /( 0 ) ac
the angular frequency, 0 is the permittivity of free space and
ac is the ac loss contribution at high frequencies. The expression shows that dc conduction loss is inversely proportional to the frequency, hence, the reason for the increase in
r for the materials with a decrease in frequency in the lowfrequency regime. Similar behavior has also been observed
for a MnZn ferriterubber composite.8 For the ferrite, ion
jump and relaxation between two equivalent Fe2 and Fe3
ion positions are responsible for the dielectric loss at high
frequencies.
Figure 4 shows the real and imaginary parts of the complex magnetic permeability r and r for the three
samples. The values of r and r are, respectively, unity
and zero in the whole frequency range for the nonmagnetic
TPNR sample, while a strong decrease with an increase in
frequency for both quantities is observed at low frequencies
for the ferrite. However, r for the ferrite shows a gradual
increase with an increase in frequency for frequencies above
7.5 GHz. The plot for the ferrite also shows that r 1 for
frequencies below 3 GHz and 0 r 1 for frequencies

Yusoff et al.

879

FIG. 5. Reflection loss plot at several thicknesses t of a the TPNR and

b the TPNRferrite composite. : 2.5 mm, : 5 mm, : 15 mm and :
30 mm.

higher than 3 GHz. The effects of incorporating the ferrite

into the matrix of the TPNR matrix is to raise r above unity
at low frequencies and lower r at high frequencies, while
r is slightly increased above zero throughout the whole
frequency range. The magnetic permeability for the TPNR
matrix is as expected since it is nonmagnetic. A sharp decrease in r and r with the frequency from 1 GHz for the
ferrite constitutes a part of the resonance peak due to domain
wall resonance which is supposed to occur at lower frequency. The wall resonance nearly vanishes in the TPNR
ferrite composite sample because the particles are too small
to support a multidomain structure.18 The pure TPNR sample
exhibits no wall resonance as expected. Ferrimagnetic or
spin resonance, on the other hand, is hardly observed for the
ferrite due to the large influence of wall resonance but a
closer look at the logarithmic plot for the TPNRferrite composite sample diagram in inset indicates a small peak that
could be due to spin resonance which occurs at approximately 3.5 GHz. The randomness in the internal fields
caused by variation of the spontaneous magnetization and
anisotropy field at different points in the unmagnetized
samples18,19 explains the suppression of the resonance peak
observed in this study.
Figure 5a shows the frequency dependence of the reflection loss for the TPNR at various sample thicknesses t
2.5, 5, 15, and 30 mm. The curves are obtained by assum-

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880

J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 92, No. 2, 15 July 2002

ing normal incidence of the electromagnetic field on the

surface of a specular TPNR absorber backed by a perfect
conductor. R L is calculated from a computer simulation using the values of r* and r* previously obtained, as shown
in Fig. 7. The reflection loss minimum or the dip in R L is
equivalent to the occurrence of minimal reflection of the microwave power for the particular thickness. The plots for the
TPNR show that the number of dips increases with an increase in sample thickness. It can be seen that there is only
one shallow dip for t5 mm and almost no reflection loss
for t2.5 mm, however, the loss starts to appear at higher
frequencies, where two and four complete dips can be observed for t15 and 30 mm, respectively. The occurrence of
the dips is found to be due to a successive odd number multiple of the quarter wavelength thickness of the material or
tn/4 n1, 3, 5, 7, 9, ..., where n1 corresponds to the
first dip at low frequency. The propagating wavelength in a
material ( m ) is expressed by m 0 /( r* r* ) 1/2 where
0 is the free space wavelength and r* and r* are the
moduli of r* and r* , respectively. At that particular thickness, the incident and reflected waves in the material are out
of phase 180, resulting in total cancellation of the reflected
waves at the airmaterial interface. For t30 mm, it can be
shown that the dips occur when the thicknesses equal to
1.2/4, 3.1/4, 5.1/4 and 7.1/4. Calculations performed on other thicknesses give similar results, but the location of each consecutive dip is shifted towards a higher
frequency for a smaller value of t.
The results for the TPNRferrite composite appear to be
similar to those for the TPNR. The plots for t2.5, 5, 15 and
30 mm are shown in Fig. 5b. For t2.5 mm, the reflection
loss over a wide frequency range is small. For t5 mm, a
broad reflection loss dip starts to appear. A similar calculation shows that the dip occurs at a thickness of 1.1/4. Compared with the result for the 5 mm thick TPNR, the inclusion
of the ferrite filler has lowered the frequency of the quarter
wavelength dip. For higher values of t, the occurrence of
reflection loss for the TPNRferrite composite is similar to
that of the TPNR but the magnitude or intensity varies in a
complicated manner. This is believed to be due to impedance
mismatch at the airmaterial interface. This is the reason
why the microwave power is not totally absorbed by the
materials. The dips for each thickness from left to right can
also be shown to occur at tn/4 n1, 3, 5, 7, 9, ....
Apparently, the number increases as the thickness is increased and the dip for the same n of different thicknesses is
shifted towards a lower frequency region.
Figure 6a shows the frequency dependence of the reflection loss of the ferrite at sample thicknesses of 2.5, 5, 15
and 30 mm. Clearly demonstrated is that the intensity and
frequency of the reflection loss minimal for the ferrite also
depend on the materials thickness. The dips of minimal reflection for the ferrite in the low-frequency region are also
shifted towards a lower frequency with an increase in thickness. However, by using a similar computer simulation, two
frequency-thickness configurations of the ferrite where minimal reflection of microwave power occurs can be determined, as depicted in Fig. 6b. This behavior was also found
in NiZnCo ferrite composites1 and in polypyrrole-based

Yusoff et al.

FIG. 6. a Frequency dependence of the reflection loss of the ferrite at

various sample thicknesses : 2.5 mm, : 5 mm, : 15 mm and : 30
mm, b frequency dependence of the reflection loss of the ferrite showing
two matching conditions at low and high frequencies from the simulated
two-port technique and c the results for the simulated two-port and the
experimental one-port techniques of the pure ferrite thickness 5.09 mm.

microwave absorbers.2 The matching frequencies are 1.2 and

12.6 GHz, with corresponding matching thickness values of
6.7 and 2.9 mm, respectively. The first matching at low frequency in some ferrites has been related to the spin rotational
resonance frequency.9 However, the spin rotational resonance frequency of the (Li0.5Fe0.50.4Ni0.3Zn0.3Fe2O4 ferrite
could not be determined due to the absence of a resonance
peak in the magnetic loss spectrum. It is suggested that the
maximal absorption at this frequency is simply due to r*
r* regardless of the existence of resonance or not. The

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J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 92, No. 2, 15 July 2002

881

absent for both samples and the parameters are separated

throughout the whole frequency range. This shows that the
dips observed for the TPNR and TPNRferrite composite are
due to geometrical factors whereas for the ferrite, material
properties play an important role in the low-frequency absorption. As depicted in Fig. 6, maximal absorption around
this frequency also occurs at other thicknesses, but the magnitude decreases with an increase or decrease in thickness.
Maximal absorption for t15 and 30 mm is expected to
occur at lower frequencies. A slight variation in the frequency is due to the variation of the factor tanht in the
equation for reflection loss. The second matching frequency
is associated with the quarter wavelength /4 thickness of
the material as discussed for the TPNR and TPNRferrite
composite. The wavelength in the material at the second
matching condition is 11.9 mm. Hence /42.9 mm, which
is equal to the thickness of the sample at that frequency. In
Fig. 6a, it can be observed that the matching condition is
about to occur at thickness of 2.5 mm. The absorption of
microwaves has been shown to depend on the polarizability
of the materials.20,21 Polar molecules are known to strongly
absorb
microwaves
in comparison to nonpolar molecules. This explains the
present results that the microwave power absorption by the
ferrite, which possess a higher polarizability or dielectric
constant, is higher than that of the TPNR or the TPNR
ferrite composite.

IV. CONCLUSION

FIG. 7. Variation of r* and r* as a function of the frequency for all

samples. The crossing of the modulus of r* and r* can be seen for the
ferrite at low frequency.

simulation used in this study agreed very well with the experimental result using the S 11 short technique. Figure 6c
shows an example of simulated and experimental plots of R L
for a 5.09 mm thick ferrite sample. The slight deviation in
the magnitude and in the location between the two dips could
be due to some experimental errors, such as the existence of
the air layer between the sample and the termination and
dimensional inaccuracies of the sample.
Figure 7 shows that the crossing of the modulus of r*
and r* in the low-frequency region in the ferrite sample
occurs at the same frequency of maximal absorption. Figure
7 also shows plots of r* and r* for the TPNR and TPNR
ferrite composite. However, the crossing of r* and r* is

The dependence of the absorption characteristics of a

specular absorber backed by a perfect conductor on the
thickness, dielectric and magnetic properties of the materials
are discussed. The ferrite was found to impose only a small
change on the microwave electromagnetic properties of the
TPNR. The dielectric loss in the samples at low frequencies
is very much influenced by dc conductivity, whereas the loss
at higher frequencies is attributed to ac conductivity. The
absorption properties of the ferrite analyzed by a specular
absorber method reveal two matching conditions in the lowand high-frequency regimes. The first matching condition is
due to the material properties where r* r* , while the
second matching condition is due to geometrical cancellation
of the incidence and reflected waves in the absorber when the
thickness is equal to n/4, where n is an odd integer and is
the wavelength of the microwave in the materials. The reflection loss or the dips of the TPNR and the TPNRferrite
composite are due only to geometrical factors. The number
of dips increases with an increase in thickness. It was observed from the study that the ferrite can be used as a narrowband absorber, whereas polymeric samples are good in
broadband absorption. Apart from that, the polymeric
samples can also be used for narrowband applications based
on selective band absorption especially for thicker samples.
The specular absorber provides a simple theoretical graphic
aid for determining the absorption characteristics and the location of the matching conditions in the frequency domain.

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882

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by Research and Development

Grant Nos. IRPA 09-02-02-0005 and IRPA 09-02-02-0074,
from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment
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