Integrated design of component and configuration for a flexible and ultrabroadband radar absorbing composite

To achieve ultra-broadband radar absorption at small thickness, the integrated design of component and configuration of a rubber matrix flexible radar absorbing composite (RAC) is performed in the present study. At the material component level, hydrogenated acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR) reinforced by flaky carbonyl iron particles (FCIP) ensures the considerable permeability of RAC, as well as its good flexibility, mechanical strength and elongation to break. At the structure design level, a novel modified step-configuration (MSC) is proposed through full-wave calculation. The preparation process of RAC with the modified step-configuration includes components mixing in a two-roll mixer and hot-press moulding. Radar reflectivity testing experiment demonstrates that, by integrated design of component and configuration, the absorbing bandwidth corresponding to −10dB can span from 2 GHz to 30 GHz for a 5 mm-thick composite absorber.