Abstract
Efforts to produce microwave absorber materials thatare inexpensiveand environmentally friendly have become a means of greening the environment.The breakthrough can be focused on industrial waste and natural materialsfor functional purposes and how to enhance their performance. We successfullysynthesized nickel slag/laterite soil (NS/LS) and nickel slag/ironsand (NS/IS) nanocomposites using a simple mechanical alloying technique,and the electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption capacities of the nanocompositeswere measured using a vector network analyzer. The structural propertiesof the nanocomposites were analyzed by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy,where the results of the analysis showed that NS/IS has the largestcrystallite size (15.69 nm) and the highest EM wave absorption performance.The optical properties of the nanocomposites were determined fromtheir Fourier transform infrared spectra using the Kramers-Kronigrelation. As determined through a quantitative analysis of the opticalproperties, the distance between the longitudinal and transversaloptical phonon wavenumber positions (& UDelta;-(LO - TO) = 65cm(-1)) is inversely proportional to the reflectionloss. The surface morphologies of the nanocomposites were analyzedby scanning electron microscopy, and the particle diameters were observedby binary image and Gaussian distribution analyses. The nanocompositesurface exhibits a graded-like morphology, which indicates multiplereflections of the EM radiation, consequently reducing the EM interference.The best nanocomposite for an attenuated EM wave achieved a reflectionloss of -39.14 dB at 5-8 GHz. A low penetration depthhas implications for the electrical charge tuning of the storage andcomposite magnets. Finally, the EM absorption properties of NS/ISand NS/LS indicate a 2-mm-thick environmentally friendly nanocompositefor EM absorption.