Additive manufacturing of carbon nanotube-photopolymer composite radar absorbing materials

Additive manufacturing (AM) including Stereolithography (SLA) and more recent 3D printing derivatives is an innovative manufacturing technology, where objects can be manufactured by accumulation of successive layers of materials. Such technology enables the fabrication of highly customized radar absorbing materials (RAM) and novel RAM structures. The microwave absorption, printability, complex electromagnetic parameters were measured, acrylic ester photopolymer with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) content ranging from 0.5% to 1.5% prepared with digital masking AM technology. Good dispersion and the content of CNTs have major influences on the successful preparation. The printability limit of multiwalled CNT is found to be 1.6%.The maximum absorption of 6 mm-thick composites is measured to be −15.98 dB with 1.5% CNT content. The real part (ε′) of permittivity increases from 2.5 to 7 and the imaginary part (ε″) of permittivity increases from 0.2 to 1.0 with the increasing content of CNTs. Frequencies, thickness, uniformly distribution of CNT and CNT content are the main factors affecting the RAM properties. The calculated reflection loss, for 12 mm-thick composites, are −7 dB, −26 dB, and −34 dB for 0.5%, 1%, and 1.5% of CNT contents, respectively, and the matching frequency shifts to lower frequencies with the increase of thickness or CNT content, which is in agreement with electromagetic theory and experiment results. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:E671–E676, 2018.