Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 516 (2020) 167332

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Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmmm

Research articles

A new quantitative analysis method for electromagnetic energy dissipation T

in microwave absorption materials
Zhou Liua,b,d, Wenyun Yanga,b,d, Rui Wue, Qiwei Hua,b,d, Guanyi Qiaoa,b,d, Shunquan Liua,b,d, ,
⁎

Jingzhi Hana,b,d, Changsheng Wanga,b,d, Honglin Dua,b,d, Jinbo Yanga,c,d,

⁎

a
State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics and School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China
b
Institute of Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China
c
Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100871, PR China
d
Beijing Key Laboratory for Magnetoelectric Materials and Devices (BKL-MEMD), Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China
e
Center for Quantum Spintronics, Department of Physics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: With the increasing demand for high-frequency electronic devices in wide applications, microwave absorption
Microwave absorption materials materials of GHz have attracted extensive attention. In this paper, a new method is provided for quantitative
Electromagnetic energy dissipation analysis of energy dissipation in the microwave absorption materials. The loss of electromagnetic energy in
Quantitative analysis absorbers can be strictly classified into only two types: magnetic and dielectric loss, and the ratios of the two
Magnetic loss
losses with respect to incident microwave intensity can be accurately evaluated. Moreover, different materials
Dielectric loss
were analyzed with the new method. Notably, both magnetic loss and dielectric loss were found to be important
in Sm1.5Y0.5Fe16.5Si0.5/paraffin composite, which can consume up to 88% and 78% of the incident microwave
energy under certain conditions, respectively. The fascinating combination of the magnetic loss and the di­
electric loss well explained the peculiar two or three peaks in the reflection loss (RL) curves. This analysis
method can be a powerful supplement for current theories to explain the microwave absorption property of
materials, thus providing a new perspective for the design of high-performance absorption materials.

1. Introduction absorption materials. However, challenges remain for these theories to

The microwave absorption is significant in many applications, such
as wireless communications and electronic devices, which have greatly
aroused research interest in microwave absorption materials [1–3].
High-performance materials should strongly absorb microwave in a
broad frequency range, with less thickness and low density [4–6]. To
achieve these goals, many studies about microwave absorption mate­
rials have focused on developing new preparation techniques and novel
materials [3,6–8]. However, to date, few materials can satisfy all the
requirements. Except for the experimental and technical difficulties,
one of the main reasons for the unsatisfied absorption properties is
related to the fact that the existing theories could not explain well
enough the microwave absorption property, which prevents the de­
velopment of high-performance microwave absorption materials. At
present, transmission line theory, loss tangent theory, and quarter-wa­
velength theory are widely applied to explain the microwave absorp­
tion behaviors[10–14,15–18,20–23]. Some of these theories are known
as grand theories, which attempt to explain almost every aspect of the
fully describe this sophisticated problem.
Transmission line theory was initially proposed for the problem of
current propagation in cables. In the 1970 s, Naito and Suetake et al.
successfully applied the transmission line theory to depict the absorp­
tion properties of the ferrite absorption wall [9]. Based on their work,
transmission line formula (Eq. (1) and Eq. (2)) has been widely used to
calculate the RL curves [10–14], which is related to the complex per­
meability ( µr ), complex permittivity ( r ), microwave frequency ( f ), and
absorber thickness (d ). For the case that a plane wave is normally in­
cident on a single-layer absorber backed by a perfect conductor, the
ratio of the reflected wave energy to the incident wave energy equals to
10 RL/10 . The transmission line theory can help researchers to plot the RL
curves to show the change of microwave absorption ability of materials
with thickness and frequency. However, it does not involve physical
details about the loss mechanism in materials, despite its mathematical
success.

⁎
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: shunquanliu@pku.edu.cn (S. Liu), jbyang@pku.edu.cn (J. Yang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmmm.2020.167332
Received 18 June 2020; Received in revised form 22 August 2020; Accepted 23 August 2020
Available online 28 August 2020
0304-8853/ © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Z. Liu, et al. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 516 (2020) 167332

2 fd
Z= µr / r tanh i µr r
c (1)

Z 1
RL = 20log10
Z+1 (2)

Here, c is the speed of light in vacuum, and Z is the input im­

pedance.
Loss tangents (tan m = µ'' / µ' , tan e = ''/ ' ) are widely used to depict
the magnetic loss ability and the dielectric loss ability of microwave
absorption materials [15–18], where µ' and µ'' are the real and ima­
ginary parts of the complex permeability, i.e.µr = µ' iµ'' and similar
definitions apply for ' and '', i.e. the complex permittivity r = ' i '' .
Loss tangents are important parameters in energy transform applica­
tions, which represent the ratio of dissipated energy with respect to
stored energy in one period. However, when the distribution of stored
energy is not uniform and the distribution varies with loss tangent,
large loss tangent does not necessarily mean large dissipated energy. In
this situation, loss tangent can be only used as a qualitative index,
which is the first shortcoming of the loss tangents theory. Moreover,
Wang et al. have investigated the reflection loss mechanism of carbonyl- Fig. 1. The spatial distribution of electric field, when a plane wave is normally
iron composite and pointed out that the loss tangent cannot well ex­ incident from air to a uniform absorber backed by a perfect conductor. The
plain the dependence of absorption peak frequency upon absorber space can be divided into three parts: air, absorber, and perfect conductor.
thickness [19]. They have found that the magnetic loss tangent of their Ein e ik0 z and Ereflect e ik0 z represent the electric field of the incident wave and the
sample shows a maximum at 6 GHz while the dielectric loss tangent is reflected wave in air, respectively. E+e ikz and E e ikz represent the electric field
negligible. According to the idea that large loss tangent connects with of waves inside the absorber traveling in the + z and -z directions, respectively.
high loss ability, the absorption peak should keep at 6 GHz regardless of k 0 and k are wave vectors in air and the absorber, respectively.
absorber thickness, since the loss tangent is independent of thickness in
this theory. However, they found the absorption peak frequency ob­ film has higher practicability because of its low density, and
viously changes with the thickness, according to the RL curves, which Sm1.5Y0.5Fe16.5Si0.5/paraffin composite shows a stronger dielectric loss
reveals the failure of loss tangent theory in the explanation of the ab­ absorption peak as a result of Si doping. The analysis results of these
sorber-thickness dependence of peak frequency. This is the second composites shed light on the understanding of the mechanism of mi­
shortcoming of the loss tangent theory. These shortcomings have lar­ crowave absorption and the design of the new materials, showing the
gely limited its applications. superiority of the new method.
In the quarter-wavelength theory, the absorption peak will appear,
when the phase difference between the reflected wave at the air-ab­ 2. Theoretical section
sorber interface and the reflected wave at the absorber-conductor in­
terface is equal to (2 k + 1) (k = 0, 1, 2, 3, …). Based on this theory, 2.1. The distribution of the electromagnetic field in the absorber
the relationship between the absorption peak frequency and absorber
(2k + 1) c
thickness should match the quarter-wavelength formula (d = 4f µ , When a plane wave is typically incident on a uniform absorber
r r
k = 0, 1, 2, 3, …). The quarter-wavelength formula successfully ex­ backed by a perfect conductor, the distribution of the electromagnetic
plained the experimental relationship between absorber thickness and field in the space can be deduced according to Maxwell’s equations. The
absorption peak frequency, from the angle of wave interference time is labeled as t, and the distribution of the electric field in space at
[20–23]. However, the theory gives no details about how the micro­ t = 0 is shown in Fig. 1. Also, the phase factor(e i t ) needs to be in­
wave energy is converted into other forms of energy through wave troduced to describe the time-dependent distribution of the electro­
interference. Moreover, a deviation between the experimental results magnetic field, where is the angular frequency of microwave. Ac­
and the quarter-wavelength formula has been observed in many ma­ cording to the boundary conditions of the air-absorber and the
terials [24–27], which also challenges this theory. absorber-conductor interfaces, the distribution of the electric field can
Hence, development and improvement should be adopted to these be expressed as
theories to achieve a better description of the microwave absorption. In Zp 1
order to understand the energy loss in the absorbers, we propose a new Ereflect = Ein
Zp + 1 (3)
method to describe the mechanism of energy loss. In this method, the
microwave loss caused by absorbers can be strictly divided into only Zp + µr / r
two categories. One type of loss is caused by the fact that the magnetic E+ = Ein
induction B lags behind the magnetic field H, i.e., the magnetic loss.
Zp + 1 (4)
The other type of the loss is caused by that the electric displacement Zp µr / r
field D lags behind the electric field E, i.e., the dielectric loss. For a E = Ein
specific material, the ratios of these two losses can be calculated ac­
Zp + 1 (5)
curately, with only its electromagnetic parameters, microwave fre­
2 fd
quency, and absorber thickness. Furthermore, Y2Fe16Si/paraffin com­ Zp = µr / r tanh i µr r
c (6)
posite, stacked and aligned carbon-nanotube films, and
Sm1.5Y0.5Fe16.5Si0.5/paraffin composite are analyzed with the new Here, Ein and Ereflect are the complex amplitudes of the electric field
method. The three materials are chosen for their different main loss component of incident and reflected microwaves in air, respectively; E+
mechanisms. Besides, compared with conventional absorption mate­ and E are the complex amplitudes of the electric field component of
rials like ferrites, Y2Fe16Si/paraffin composite has a higher saturation the microwaves in the absorption material, traveling in the + z and -z
magnetization and a higher Curie temperature, the carbon-nanotube directions, respectively; Zp is a mathematical quantity without special

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Z. Liu, et al. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 516 (2020) 167332

physical meanings introduced to simplify these equations, which ex­ PD =

d
f '' 2
Em (z ) dz
actly has the same form as the input impedance Z in transmission line 0
0 (15)
theory; The mathematical details about these equations are given in On the other hand, according to the Poynting theorem [29], the
Appendix A. total microwave power entering the material partially goes into the
As is shown in Eq. (3), the ratio of the reflected wave energy to the increased field energy and partially is transformed into heat dissipation
incident wave energy can be written as through all kinds of loss mechanisms [11]. Then, using conservation of
2 2 energy, we can get
Ireflect Ereflect Zp 1
= =
Iin Ein Zp + 1 (7) Ptotal loss + changes of field energy = Iin Ireflect (16)

where Iin and Ireflect are the intensity of the incident and reflected where Ptotal loss refers to the total contribution of all kinds of loss
waves, respectively. According to the definition of RL, the relationship mechanisms. denotes the time average within a period of the
between RL value and the ratio of reflected wave energy to the incident electromagnetic wave. The energy densities stored in the electric and
wave energy can be expressed as magnetic fields can be expressed as [28]

Ireflect 1 2 1
RL = E , = µH 2
= 10 10 E
2 B
2 (17)
Iin (8)
Considering the temporal periodicity of the electromagnetic field,
According to Eq. (7) and Eq. (8), we can get
the time-averaged change of field energy should be 0 within a period.
Zp 1 Then, based on Eq. (16), we have
RL = 20log
Zp + 1 (9) Ptotalloss = Iin Ireflect (18)
which is consistent with the transmission line formula [9], justifying To date, many types of losses, such as eddy current loss, hysteresis
our derivation process based on Maxwell’s equations. Considering the loss, ferromagnetic resonance loss, and dielectric resonance loss et al.,
coexistence of waves traveling in both directions, the final electric field have been mentioned in many articles to account for the electro­
at position z inside the absorber can be expressed as magnetic loss in absorber [9,30–33]. However, we can hardly compare
E (z ) = E+e ikz + E eikz the contributions of these losses to the total loss and does not know the
correlations among them, which makes it difficult to optimize the total
Zp + µr / r Zp µr / r
loss. Here, we will prove that the total loss can only be contributed by
ikz Ein eikz
= Ein e + PM and PD , i.e.
Zp + 1 Zp + 1 (10)
Ptotalloss = PM + PD (19)
based on Eqs. (4) and (5). Then the final magnetic field at position z
can be derived based on Maxwell’s equations, which is equivalent to

H (z ) Ireflect PM P
1= + + D
Iin Iin Iin (20)
Zp + µr / r Ein ikz
Zp µr / r Ein
= e e ikz Ireflect
Zp + 1 µ0 / 0 µr / r Zp + 1 µ0 / 0 µr / r To prove this equation, is calculated, using the transmission
Iin
(11) line theory as well as Eq. (8). PM and PD are calculated based on Eq.(14)
Iin Iin

where µ 0 and are the permeability and permittivity in a vacuum, and Eq.(15), respectively. The detailed mathematical proof is given in
0
respectively. Appendix C. The experimental examination of this equation will be
discussed in section III.
2.2. The energy loss in the absorber
3. Experiment results
When an absorber is placed in microwaves, it will be affected by an
alternating electromagnetic field, and the microwave energy will be In this part, three materials with different main loss mechanisms are
dissipated when work is done by the electromagnetic field. Now, we investigated. For each material, RL curves are plotted with transmission
will consider how work is done by the magnetic field and the electric line formula, and energy loss curves are depicted with our new method.
field components in the microwave, respectively. In an alternating The RL curves are well explained with the energy loss curves and the
magnetic field with an amplitude of Hm , the magnetic dissipation power correctness of Eq. (20) are confirmed in all of these materials.
of unit volume can be expressed as
3.1. Magnetic predominant absorption
Pmagnetic = fµ0 µ''Hm2 (12)
Fig. 2 shows the thickness-dependent RL curves of a Y2Fe16Si/par­
Similarly, in an alternating electric field with an amplitude of Em ,
affin composite, which has been taken from our published work [33].
the dielectric dissipation power of unit volume can be expressed as
Fig. 2(a) shows the dependence of RL on the frequency at different
Pdielectric = f 0
'' 2
Em (13) thicknesses of the absorber. With a less thickness (d = 0.5 mm and
1.5 mm), no absorption peak appears, and RL goes down as frequency
The mathematical details of Pmagnetic and Pdielectric are listed in
increases. We can find that the absorption with d = 1.5 mm is always
Appendix B, which is based on Coey’s work [28]. As shown in Eqs. (10)
stronger than the case of 0.5 mm, regardless of microwave frequency.
and (11), the electromagnetic field inside the absorber is spatially de­
As the thickness increases (d = 2.5 mm, 3.5 mm, 4.5 mm), one ab­
pendent. Hence, we need to replace Hm in Eq. (12) with H (z ) in Eq. (11)
sorption peak appears in each RL curve, and the peak frequency de­
and make an integral operation to calculate the total magnetic loss
creases as frequency increases. Two absorption peaks appear at
power PM , as is shown in Eq. (14). With the same logic, we calculate the
5.02 GHz and 17.3 GHz, respectively, with d = 5.5 mm. Fig. 2(b) de­
total dielectric loss power PD in Eq. (15).
picts the loss tangent curves. The magnetic loss tangent keeps a rela­
d tively high value with a maximum of 0.297 at 12 GHz, while the di­
PM = fµ 0 µ'' Hm2 (z ) dz (14)
0 electric loss tangent is much smaller than the magnetic loss, with a

3
Z. Liu, et al.
Fig. 2. (a) Thickness-dependent RL curves and (b) frequency dependence of dielectric loss tangents and magnetic tangents of a Y2Fe16Si/paraffin composite [33].
maximum of only 0.045 at 18 GHz. That is all the information we can
obtain from the loss tangent curves. The ratio of the magnetic loss or
the dielectric loss to the total loss of absorption materials is difficult to
obtain directly from the loss tangents. Moreover, Fig. 2(b) does not
explain the complicated relationship between thickness and RL value in
Fig. 2(a).
Then, the data is analyzed with our new method. The ratios to the
incident microwave intensity of the magnetic loss and the dielectric loss
are calculated with different thicknesses, according to Eq. (10)-(15).
The ratio of the reflected wave is computed based on Eq. (8) and RL
value. Moreover, the sum of these three items is also obtained. From
Fig. 3(a), we can find that, when the thickness is small (d < 1.5 mm),
the magnetic loss keeps increasing with microwave frequency, corre­
sponding to the decrease of RL value in Fig. 2(a). As the thickness in­
creases (1.5 mm < d < 4.5 mm), a magnetic loss peak appears, and
even two peaks appear when the thickness keeps increasing into 5 mm.
Fig. 3(b) shows the fact that the dielectric loss keeps a low value, re­
gardless of frequency and thickness. The comparison of Fig. 3(a) and
Fig. 3(b) reveals the dominant role of the magnetic loss in this material.
The reflected wave intensity map in Fig. 3(c) shows a strong correlation
with the RL curves in Fig. 2(a), for the fact that lower reflected wave
intensity associates with stronger absorption and smaller RL value.
Fig. 3 (d) displays the sum of the magnetic loss, the dielectric loss, and
the reflected wave, which keeps a constant value of 1, independent of
frequency and thickness. This provides convincing evidence for Eq.
(20), supporting the idea that the magnetic loss and dielectric loss are
the only two mechanisms for the total loss. To carefully analyze these
maps, two cross-sections are shown in Fig. 3(e)-(f). In Fig. 3(e), the
magnetic loss shows a peak at 11.8 GHz, corresponding to the ab­
sorption peak of the RL curve in Fig. 2(a), when the thickness is
2.5 mm. At this point, the magnetic loss ratio is 0.866, almost 20 times
the dielectric loss ratio (0.044). In Fig. 3(f), the magnetic loss shows
two peaks at 5 GHz and 17.2 GHz, respectively, which can well explain
the two absorption peaks in the corresponding RL curve. Because of the
negligible character of the dielectric loss, highly symmetric trends can
be observed between the magnetic loss curves and the reflected wave
intensity curves shown in Fig. 3(e)-(f). It can be concluded that, for the
Y2Fe16Si/paraffin composite, absorber thickness affects reflected waves
mainly via affecting the magnetic loss, which can inspire us to further
introduce some dielectric loss into this composite to improve its ab­
sorption behavior.
3.2. Dielectric predominant absorption
Hao et al. have investigated the microwave absorption properties of
carbon-nanotube films with various cross-stacking angles [34]. Based
on their data, Fig. 4(a) plots the thickness-dependent RL curves of
carbon-nanotube films with a cross-stacking angle 45°. As is shown in
the picture, absorber exhibits strong absorption peaks at all thicknesses,
4
Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 516 (2020) 167332
except for the thickness of 0.5 mm. The magnetic and dielectric loss
tangents are depicted in Fig. 4(b), respectively. It is obvious that the
magnetic loss tangent keeps a relatively low value with a maximum of
only 0.07, while the dielectric loss tangent has a maximum of 0.29.
The ratio of the magnetic loss and the dielectric loss of this material
under different thicknesses is calculated using our new method and
given in Fig. 5. In Fig. 5(d), the sum of the magnetic loss, the dielectric
loss, and the reflected wave again keeps at a constant value of 1 under
all thicknesses and frequencies, in good agreement with Eq. (20). It can
be observed that both magnetic loss and dielectric loss show small ra­
tios when the thickness is small (d < 0.5 mm), corresponding to the
nearly flat RL curve in Fig. 4(a). With a thickness value of 1.5 mm, the
dielectric loss shows a peak value of 0.96 at 12.7 GHz, while the
magnetic loss remains at a very low level with a value of 0.035, as
shown in Fig. 5(e). This means that the dielectric loss contributes more
than 30 times as much to the absorption peak in the RL curve of 1.5 mm
as the magnetic loss. With the increase of thickness (d greater
than 3 mm), two peaks appear in the dielectric loss map, as depicted in
Fig. 5(b). In Fig. 5(f), we can find two peaks in the dielectric loss curve
at 3.6 GHz and 12.5 GHz, corresponding to the two absorption peaks in
the RL curve of 4.5 mm. Because of the negligible role of the magnetic
loss, similar symmetry, as observed in the last sample, is found here
between the dielectric loss and the reflected wave intensity curve, re­
vealing the dominant role of the dielectric loss in the microwave ab­
sorption process in this sample. In this case, the thickness affects the RL
curve mainly via influencing the dielectric loss, which enables us to
improve the absorption properties by enhancing the magnetic loss in
this composite.
3.3. Magnetoelectrical absorption
Fig. 6 shows an example of Sm1.5Y0.5Fe16.5Si0.5/paraffin composite,
which has been published in our previous work [35]. Fig. 6(a) displays
the frequency-dependent of RL at different thicknesses and Fig. 6(b)
shows the frequency-dependent of loss tangents. The RL curve with a
thickness of 2.1 mm shows apparent two absorption peaks at 4.49 GHz
and 5.11 GHz, respectively, which broadens the absorption bandwidth.
Moreover, the RL curve with a thickness of 3.1 mm even shows three
absorption peaks at 3.23 GHz, 4.93 GHz, and 10.1 GHz, respectively.
From the loss tangent curves, we can find a distinct peak of dielectric
loss tangent at 4.75 GHz. Attempts are previously made to explain the
peculiar two or three peaks in the RL curves. However, it is difficult to
establish a direct relationship between loss tangents and RL curves
using the existing theories.
To solve these problems, the new analysis method was applied, and
the results are shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 7 (a) shows the magnetic loss
achieves a maximum of 0.88 at 9.1 GHz when the thickness is 1.1 mm.
Fig. 7(b) shows the dielectric loss achieves a maximum of 0.78 at
4.7 GHz when the thickness is 2.1 mm. We can always find a dielectric
Z. Liu, et al. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 516 (2020) 167332

Fig. 3. Loss analysis of Y2Fe16Si/paraffin composite, based on the new analysis method. (a) magnetic loss, (b) dielectric loss, (c) reflected wave energy and (d) the
sum of the foregoing three items, as a function of microwave frequency and absorber thickness. (e) is a cross section when absorber thickness is 2.5 mm. (f) is the
cross-section when the thickness is 5.5 mm.

Fig. 4. (a) Thickness-dependent RL curves and (b) frequency dependence of magnetic and dielectric loss tangents of stacked carbon-nanotube films with a cross-
stacking angle 45° [34].

5
Z. Liu, et al. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 516 (2020) 167332

Fig. 5. Loss analysis of stacked carbon-nanotube films, using the new analysis method. (a) magnetic loss, (b) dielectric loss, (c) reflected wave energy and (d) the sum
of the foregoing three items, as a function of microwave frequency and absorber thickness. (e) is a cross-section when absorber thickness is 1.5 mm. (f) is the cross-
section when the thickness is 4.5 mm.

Fig. 6. (a) Thickness-dependent RL curves of Sm1.5Y0.5Fe16.5Si0.5/paraffin composite (b) Frequency-dependent dielectric and magnetic tangents of
Sm1.5Y0.5Fe16.5Si0.5/paraffin composite [35].

6
Z. Liu, et al.
Fig. 7. Loss analysis of Sm1.5Y0.5Fe16.5Si0.5/paraffin composite, based on the new analysis method. (a) magnetic loss, (b) dielectric loss, (c) reflected wave energy,
and (d) the sum of the foregoing three items as a function of microwave frequency and absorber thickness. (e) is a cross-section when absorber thickness is 2.1 mm. (f)
is the cross-section when the thickness is 3.1 mm.
loss peak around 4.8 GHz when d is thicker than 1 mm, which can be
attributed to the peak of the dielectric loss tangent curve in Fig. 6(b) at
4.75 GHz. Fig. 7(c) well corresponds to the RL curves in Fig. 6(a), and
Fig. 7(d) again proves Eq. (20). When the absorber is thin
(d = 0.1 mm), both the magnetic loss and the dielectric loss are weak,
corresponding to the poor absorption behavior in the RL curve. When
the thickness is 1.1 mm, the magnetic loss shows a maximum value of
0.88 at 9.14 GHz, almost 15 times the dielectric loss (0.06). In this
situation, Sm1.5Y0.5Fe16.5Si0.5/paraffin composite works as a kind of
magnetic absorption material. In Fig. 7(e), we can find that a dielectric
loss peak appears at 4.75 GHz with a value of 0.78, and two magnetic
loss peaks appear at 4.13 GHz and 5.56 GHz with values of 0.49 and
0.59, respectively. Hence, the peculiar two peaks at 4.49 GHz and
5.11 GHz in the RL curve of 2.1 mm, are contributed by one dielectric
loss peak and two magnetic loss peaks. Then, we consider the case of
3.1 mm, where a coexistence of magnetic loss peak and dielectric loss
peak at 3.23 GHz is observed in Fig. 7(f), which is exactly corre­
sponding to the peak at 3.23 GHz in the RL curve. The peak at 4.93 GHz
in the RL curve can be explained with the dielectric loss peak at
4.84 GHz, and the peak at 10.1 GHz in the RL curve can be explained
7
Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 516 (2020) 167332
with the magnetic loss peak at 9.6 GHz and dielectric loss peak at
10.5 GHz. It can be concluded that, for Sm1.5Y0.5Fe16.5Si0.5/paraffin
composite, both the magnetic loss and the dielectric loss vary sig­
nificantly with microwave frequency and absorber thickness, which
suggests that we can try to tune the coordination between the magnetic
loss and the dielectric loss to obtain a stronger absorption peak and a
larger absorption bandwidth in RL curve.
4. Discussion
In this section, the comparison of different theories in the descrip­
tion of the energy loss and the role of absorber thickness are discussed.
The analysis method proposed in this paper can well explain these is­
sues and offers the perspective for developing new materials with better
performance. A brief summary of the applications of different theories
and concepts in the description of microwave absorption is presented in
Fig. 8.
Z. Liu, et al.
Fig. 8. Summary of the applications of different theories in the description of
the energy loss.
4.1. Transmission line theory
As is shown in Part A, the RL values calculated by Maxwell’s
equations are consistent with those calculated by transmission line
theory, which reveals their mathematical equivalence. However, the
method based on Maxwell’s equations shows a more detailed physical
process of microwave absorption. The energy of microwaves is stored in
the magnetic field H and the electric field E. During the absorption
process, H and E will cause the motions of M and D, and the motions
will produce heat due to the damping effect. Work will be done by the H
component and E component of the microwave to overcome the
damping effect and maintain the motions of M and D. On this basis, we
can further understand the impedance matching condition (Zp = 1).
According to the transmission line formula, the RL value at this point
reaches minus infinity, corresponding to a zero reflection. Substituting
this condition into Eq. (19), we will obtain that the sum of the magnetic
loss and dielectric loss equals 1, which means the incident wave energy
can be totally dissipated. Hence, the impedance matching condition is
actually the requirement of a maximum of total loss in materials.
4.2. Loss tangent theory
According to Eq. (12) and Eq. (13), large loss tangents indeed
connect with high loss ability, when E and H are independent with loss
tangents. Thus, loss tangent shows effectiveness in describing the en­
ergy loss of cricoid soft magnetic core in energy applications ex­
emplified by electric motors and transformers. However, the case is
much more complicated when considering the model in Fig. 1. Both E
and H will vary with absorber thickness, microwave frequency, com­
plex permeability, and complex permittivity. So, it is not accurate to
depict loss ability directly with loss tangents. Based on this considera­
tion, we make an integral operation to calculate PM and PE to depict the
total loss, as is shown in Eq. (14) and Eq. (15), which enable us to
obtain the accurate ratios of the magnetic loss and the dielectric loss to
incident wave energy. This provides prospective to develop materials
with better performance. For example, if a small PM (or PE ) is the bot­
tleneck for the performance, and we can try to introduce magnetic (or
dielectric) absorption materials to enhance the overall absorption or
tune the absorption bandwidth.
8
Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 516 (2020) 167332
4.3. Quarter-wavelength theory
Quarter-wavelength theory can well explain the relationship be­
tween absorption peak frequency and absorber thickness, from the
angle of wave interference. However, it cannot explain how microwave
energy is converted into other forms of energy because the interference
is not able to create or dissipate energy and can only change the spatial
distribution of energy. Considering a kind of material with imaginary
parts of complex electromagnetic parameters equal to 0, i.e.
µ'' = 0 and = 0 , its RL value will keep 0, and no absorption peak
will appear regardless of frequency ( f ) and thickness (d ), according to
transmission line formula. It can be seen that both PM and PE keep 0,
according to Eq. (14) and Eq. (15). This ambiguously shows a fact that
interference does not absorb the energy when the medium is lossless.
Therefore, the interference under the quarter-wavelength condition
does not dissipate energy itself, but it helps to redistribute microwave
energy in the medium. Then, the medium will convert microwave en­
ergy into other forms through magnetic or dielectric loss mechanisms
and give absorption peaks in the RL curves. If the medium is lossless,
the microwave energy in the medium will go back to the air, and no
absorption peaks will be given.
4.4. The role of thickness
The complicated relationship between absorber thickness and ab­
sorption ability (quantified by RL) is usually understood based on the
quarter-wavelength model. It can also be understood through energy
dissipation. On the one hand, thicker absorber means more absorption
materials can participate in dissipating microwaves, as indicated in Eq.
(14) and Eq. (15). The d appears in the upper limit of the integrals, thus
can help to enlarge the total loss. On the other hand, the d also appears
in the integrands because of the distribution of the electromagnetic
field changes with thickness. The thicker absorber may decrease the
average intensity of the electromagnetic field and thus hurts the total
loss. The final influence of absorber thickness on the total loss is de­
termined by a compromise of both effects.
5. Conclusions
Based on Maxwell's equations, the electromagnetic field distribution
in absorber was strictly derived. Based on this, the total loss of the
absorber can only be classified into two types: the magnetic loss PM
represents the loss due to the lag of magnetic induction B with respect
to magnetic field H, and the dielectric loss PE due to the lag of electric
displacement field D with respect to electric field E. Both losses can be
quantified with strict mathematical formulas. The applications on dif­
ferent types of absorption materials demonstrate that the effectiveness
and superiority of this analysis method. This method can be a sig­
nificant complement for current theories to explain the microwave
property of materials. The successful application of this method proves
that it can be a powerful tool to explain the microwave absorption
properties of materials and, hopefully, guide researchers to design mi­
crowave absorption materials with better performance.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Zhou Liu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Formal ana­
lysis, Visualization, Writing - original draft. Wenyun Yang: Validation,
Investigation, Writing - review & editing. Rui Wu: Writing - review &
editing. Qiwei Hu: Validation, Investigation. Guanyi Qiao: Validation,
Investigation. Shunquan Liu: Resources. Jingzhi Han: Resources.
Changsheng Wang: Resources. Honglin Du: Resources. Jinbo Yang:
Supervision, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Writing - re­
view & editing.
Z. Liu, et al. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 516 (2020) 167332

Declaration of Competing Interest Acknowledgments

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial This work was supported by Natural Science Foundation of China
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ­ (Grant Nos. 51731001, 11675006, 51371009), the National Key
ence the work reported in this paper. Research and Development Program of China (No. 2016YFB0700901,
2017YFA0206303, 2017YFA0403701).

Appendix A:. The distribution of the electromagnetic field

The electromagnetic field in the air can be expressed as

E (z, t ) = Ein e( ik 0 z + Ereflect e ik0 z e i ) t

(A1)

H (z, t ) = Hin e( ik 0 z + Hreflect eik0 z ei ) t

(A2)
Ereflect 2 f
where Hin = and Hreflect = . Here, k 0 can be expressed as k 0 = . According to wave equations, we can obtain the general solution
Ein
µ0 / 0 µ0 / 0 c
of the plane electromagnetic wave in the absorber.
E (z , t ) = E ( z ) e i t = (E+e ikz + E eikz ) ei t
(A3)

H (z , t ) = H (z ) ei t = (H+e ikz +H eikz ) ei t (A4)

E+ 2 f
Here, H+ = and H = , and k = .
E
µ 0 / 0 µr / r µ 0 / 0 µr / r c / µr r
Then, we apply Maxwell’s equations at the air-absorber interface (where z = 0). Considering that no free charges and no conduction current at
the interface, the continuity of both the magnetic field and electric field can be expected. The continuity of the electric field yields
(Ein + Ereflect ) ei t = (E+ + E ) e i t
(A5)
and the continuity of the magnetic field yields

Ein Ereflect E+ E
ei t = ei t
µ0 / 0 µ0 / 0 µ0 0 µr / r µ0 0 µr / r (A6)
Next, with applying Maxwell’s equations at the absorber-conductor interface (where z = d), considering that no electric field exists in a perfect
conductor, we can get the continuity of electric field
(E+e ikd + E eikd ) ei t =0 (A7)
From Eqs. (A5), (A6) and (A7), we can obtain the equations in Sec. Ⅱ-A.
Zp 1
Ereflect = Ein (3)
Zp + 1

Zp + µr / r
E+ = Ein (4)
Zp + 1

Zp µr / r
E = Ein (5)
Zp + 1

2 fd
Zp = µr / r tanh i µr r (6).
c

Appendix B:. The work done by the magnetic field and the electric field

Magnetic Dissipation Part:

The work done by the magnetic field can be expressed as dW = HdB. Now, we need to consider the work done by an alternating magnetic field
H = Hmcos( t ) . We can also use a complex form H = Hm ei t for convenience in math. Considering a lag ( ) between H and B, B can be expressed as
= Bm cos( t ) , with a complex form B = Bm ei ( t ) . Then, we can calculate complex permeability
B Bm
µr = = e i = µ' iµ''
µ0 H µ0 H m (B1)
From Eq. (B1), we can get
Bm
µ' = cos
µ0 Hm (B2)
Bm
µ'' = sin
µ0 H m (B3)

9
Z. Liu, et al. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 516 (2020) 167332

Calculating average dW in a period (T = 2

), we can get
1 T 1 T
< dW > = dW = HdB
T 0 T 0

1 T
= Hmcos ( t ) dBmcos ( t )= Hm Bm sin
T 0 2 (B4)
By substituting Eq. (B3) into Eq. (B4), we get < dW > = fµ0 µ Hm2 ,
which is exactly Eq. (12) in Sec. Ⅱ-B. We can find < dW > = 0 , when the lag
''
is
equal to 0. Hence, the work done by the alternating magnetic field can be regarded as a result of the lag of B with respect to H.

2. Dielectric dissipation Part:

The work done by the electric field can be expressed as dW = EdD , assuming no free charges and no conduction current exist in the material.
Here, the work done by an alternating electric field E = Emcos( t ) , or E = Em ei t for convenience in math, will be considered. With the lag ( )
between D and E, D can be expressed as = Dmcos( t ) , or in a complex form D = Dm ei ( t ) . Then, we can calculate complex permittivity
D Dm i ' ''
r = = e = i
0E 0 Em (B5)
From Eq. (B1), we can get
' Dm
= cos
0 Em (B6)

'' Dm
= sin
0 Em (B7)
Calculating average dW in a period (T = 2
), we can get
1 T 1 T
< dW > = dW = EdD
T 0 T 0

1 T
= Emcos ( t ) dDmcos ( t )= Em Dm sin
T 0 2 (B8)
Through substituting Eq. (B7) into Eq. (B8), we obtain < dW > = f 0 Em ,
which is exactly Eq. (13) in Sec. Ⅱ-B. We find that < dW > = 0 when the
'' 2

lag is 0. Hence, the work done by the alternating electric field can be regarded as a result of the lag of D with respect to E.

Appendix C:. The proof of Eq. (20)

Ireflect
Now, we will prove the Eqn. (20), i.e., 1 = . Firstly, according to the definition of Poynting vector S , we get
PM PD
Iin
+ Iin
+ Iin

1 T 1 T |Ein |2
Iin = Sdt = E × Hdt =
T 0 T 0 2 µ0 / 0 (C1)
where Ein is the amplitude of the incident microwave electric field.
Secondly, according to Eq. (8) and transmission line theory, we get
Ireflect 2
Z 1
=
Iin Z+1 (C2)

2 fd
Z= µr / r tanh i µr r = Z . real + iZ . imag
c (C3)
Here, Z . real is the real part of Z and Z . imag is the imaginary part of Z . Thus, we get
Ireflect 2
Z 1 4Z . real
1 =1 =
Iin Z+1 |Z + 1|2 (C4)
Then, we will use some mathematical tricks to simplify all these equations. The wave vector in the absorption material satisfies
2 f
k= µr = k1 + ik2
c
r
(C5)
Here, k1 is the real part of k and k2 is the imaginary part of k . We can also express the complex permeability and permittivity as
µr = | µr | e i , r = | r | ei (C6)

10
Z. Liu, et al. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 516 (2020) 167332

where is the phase angle of the complex permeability, and is the phase angle of the complex permittivity. Substituting Eqs. (C5) and (C6) into
Eq.(C3) yields

µr µr sinh (ikd )
Z= tanh (ikd ) = ei 2
r r cosh (ikd )

µr cos (k1 d) sinh (k2 d) + isin (k1 d) cosh (k2 d)

= (cos + isin )
r 2 2 cos (k1 d ) cosh (k2 d) isin (k1 d) sinh (k2 d)

µr sinh (2k2 d ) + isin (2k1 d )

= cos + isin
r 2 2 cosh (2k2 d ) + cos (2k1 d ) (C7)
According to Eq. (C7), we get
µr cosh (2k2 d ) cos (2k1 d )
|Z|2 =
r cosh (2k2 d ) + cos (2k1 d ) (C8)

Zp. real =
µr cos ( ) sinh (2k d) + sin (
2 2 2
) sin (2k1 d )

r cosh (2k2 d ) + cos (2k1 d ) (C9)

Ireflect 4 µr cos ( 2
) sinh (2k2 d ) + sin ( 2
) sin (2k1 d)
1 =
Iin |Z + 1|2 r cosh (2k2 d ) + cos (2k1 d ) (C11)
Thirdly, according to Eqs. (6) and (10), we get

Zp + µr / r ikz
Zp µr / r
E (z ) = Ein e + Ein eikz
Zp + 1 Zp + 1

Zp Zp + µr / r ikz
Zp µr / r
= Ein ( e + eikz )
Zp + 1 Zp Zp

Zp tanh (ikd ) + 1 ikz tanh (ikd ) 1 ikz

= Ein ( e + e )
Zp + 1 tanh (ikd ) tanh (ikd )

Zp 2sinh (ik (d z ))
= Ein
Zp + 1 sinh (ikd) (C11)
From Eq. (C11), we get
4 |Z|2 cosh (2k2 (d z )) cos (2k1 (d z ))
|E (z )|2 = |Ein |2
|Z + 1|2 cosh (2k2 d ) cos (2k1 d ) (C12)
According to Eq. (15),
d '' 2
PD = f 0 Em (z ) dz (C13)
0

Substituting Eq. (C12) into Eq. (15) yields

''
4 |Z|2 f 0 d
PD = |Ein |2 [cosh (2k2 (d z )) cos (2k1 (d z ))] dz
|Z + 1|2 cosh (2k2 d) cos (2k1 d ) 0

''
4 |Z|2 f 0 sinh (2k2 d ) sin (2k1 d )
= |Ein |2
|Z + 1|2 cosh (2k2 d ) cos (2k1 d ) 2k2 2k1 (C14)
By substituting Eq. (C1) into Eq.(C14), we get

PD 4 |Z|2 2 f 0 '' µ 0 / 0 sinh (2k2 d ) sin (2k1 d )

=
Iin 2
|Z + 1| cosh (2k2 d ) cos (2k1 d ) 2k2 2k1 (C15)
Substituting c = and | | sin into Eq. (C15) yields
1 ''
µ0 0
=

PD 4 |Z|2 r
sin 2 f |µr r| / c sinh (2k2 d ) sin (2k1 d )
=
Iin |Z + 1|2 µr cosh (2k2 d ) cos (2k1 d ) 2k2 2k1 (C16)
2 f + 2 f +
From Eqs. (C5) and (C6), we get k1 = c
|µr r | cos( 2
) and k2 = c
|µr r | sin( 2
) . By substituting these equations into Eq. (C16), we get

PD 4 |Z|2 | r / µr | sin sinh (2k2 d ) sin sin (2k1 d)

=
Iin |Z + 1|2 cosh (2k2 d ) cos (2k1 d ) 2sin 2
+
2cos
+
2 (C17)

11
Z. Liu, et al. Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 516 (2020) 167332

With the same process, based on Eq. (11) and Eq. (12), we get

PM 4 |Z|2 | r / µr | sin sinh (2k2 d ) sin sin (2k1 d )

= 2 +
+ +
Iin |Z + 1| cosh (2k2 d ) cos (2k1 d ) 2sin 2 2cos 2 (C18)
Based on Eqs. (C17) and (C18), we get
PD P
+ M=
Iin Iin

4 |Z|2 | r / µr | (sin + sin ) sinh (2k2 d ) (sin sin )sin(2k1 d )

+
|Z + 1|2 cosh (2k2 d ) cos (2k1 d ) 2sin 2
+
2cos
+
2 (C19)
Noticing that
+ + +
sin + sin = sin + + sin = 2sin ( ) cos ( )
2 2 2 2 2 2

+ + +
sin sin = sin + sin = 2cos ( ) sin ( )
2 2 2 2 2 2
we can simplify Eq. (C19) and get

PD P
+ M =
4 |Z|2 r
cos ( ) sinh (2k d) + sin ( ) sin (2k d)
2 2 2 1

Iin Iin |Z + 1|2 µr cosh (2k2 d ) cos (2k1 d ) (C20)

Substituting Eq. (C8) into Eq. (C20), we get

PD P
+ M =
4 µr cos ( ) sinh (2k d) + sin ( ) sin (2k d)
2 2 2 1

Iin Iin |Z + 1|2 r cosh (2k2 d ) + cos (2k1 d ) (C21)

Finally, comparing Eq. (C10) and Eq. (C21), we find that the right side of these two equations is exactly the same. So, we get
Ireflect PD P
1 = + M
Iin Iin Iin (C22)
Hence, the Eq. (20) is proved to be correct.

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