Harnessing the Power of Graphene as Radar Absorbing Material- Nanografi

The remarkable properties and superior performance of graphene render it an promising radar absorbing material, captivating the interest of researchers and creating a compelling urge to delve into its potential applications.

Graphene, a single-atom-thick material composed of carbon atoms, exhibits unique electrical,mechanical, and thermal properties. When employed as a radar absorbing material, it garners significant interest due to its high performance and impressive characteristics. Graphene's radar absorption capabilities stem from its ability to minimize the reflection of electromagnetic waves by absorbing them. With its low density, wideband absorption, excellent conductivity, and effectiveness across a broad frequency range, graphene offers advantages in reducing reflections and associated reflection losses in radar systems. At Nanografi, our advanced manufacturing processes and expertise allow us to deliver graphene with exceptional properties. To discover further information about graphene products, you can visit Nanografi.

Introduction

Graphene exhibits high conductivity and broadband absorption properties, as well as the ability to interact with microwaves and reduce reflections, making it a promising material for microwave applications in communications and radar technologies. These microwaves cover wavelengths from one square millimeter to one meter. The use of resistive and metallic surfaces for microwave absorption and free-space steering, respectively, poses challenges for active microwave management due to the need for large adaptive surfaces. Extensive research aims to achieve electrically controllable microwave reflection and transmission, focusing primarily on tuning microwave-matter interactions by electrical methods.

Adaptive surfaces use materials with variable conductivity, permittivity or permeability. Our proposal proposes to manipulate surface charge concentration instead of bulk material properties to control microwaves. Graphene, a 2D carbon crystal with an extremely large surface area, provides a promising platform for innovative adaptive microwave surfaces. Through electrostatic doping, atomically thin layers enable the realization of transformable radar absorption surfaces.

What is Radar-Absorbing Material (RAM)?

Radar-absorbing materials (RAM) are specifically designed materials that are used to reduce or eliminate the reflection of electromagnetic waves. They employ two main approaches:

• Absorption
• Multiple reflections.

In the absorption process, RAM is able to absorb electromagnetic waves that come into contact with it. This absorption reduces the intensity of the waves and converts them into heat energy. RAM achieves this through different mechanisms such as ohmic loss, dielectric loss, or magnetic loss, which are influenced by the material's permeability and complex permittivity.

Multiple reflections, also known as destructive interference, occur within the RAM when incoming waves are reflected back and forth between the rear and front faces of the material. This phenomenon helps to minimize the overall reflection of the waves.

RAM plays a crucial role in stealth technology, particularly in reducing the radar cross-section of military aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It is applied to various surfaces, including the exterior skin and high-radar reflection areas like surface edges, in order to weaken reflected signals by absorbing the electromagnetic wave energy.

Applications of Radar Absorbing Materials

The utilization of radar-absorbing materials (RAM) and structures in stealth technology, such as the application of these materials on the surfaces of the F-117 Nighthawk aircraft by the United States Air Force, represents one of the most well-known applications of RAM. However, it is important to note that RAS (Radar Absorbing Structures) and RAM find applications not only in  the military field but also in commercial microwave communications systems. In recent years, RAM has also been employed in commercial and civil settings to mitigate radar scattering from large buildings located near airports, which could potentially interfere with civil aviation radar systems. Moreover, RAM is utilized in various consumer electronics such as antennas, automobile radios, mobile phones, and telecommunications base stations.