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Performance Evaluation of Conducting Polymer Paints as Radar Absorbing

Materials (RAM)

Conference Paper · October 2003

DOI: 10.1109/IMOC.2003.1244885 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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 Performance Evaluation of Conducting Polymer
Paints as Radar Absorbing Materials (RAM)
R. S. Biscaro, E. L. Nohara, G. G. Peixoto
R. Faez, M. C. Rezende
Absfruct - The efficiency and performance of recently
developed RAM (Radar Absorbing Materials) based on
conducting polymer paints has been investigated in the range of
8 - 12 CHz. The used conducting polymer in the paint
formulations is the polyaniline doped with two different acids:
dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA), and camphorsulfonic acid
(CSA). In practice, RAM ought to be effective over a range of
incidence angles, hence, in this paper, are presented reflectivity
measurements using NRL arch and Radar Cross Section
techniques, in an anechoic chamber. The RAM manufacture
and its characterization were carried out at Material Division of
Space Aeronautical lnstitute (1AE)ICTA - Defense Department.
The results show that the attenuation and the efficiency of the
microwave absorbing paints are dependent on their composition
(type of polyaniline), their thickness and the incident angle of
radiation.
Index Terms - RAM, Microwave Absorbing Paints,
Conducting Polymers.
I. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays intrinsic conducting polymers (ICP) continue
attract much interesting in world researches due to offer a
great technological and commercial application potential
such as [1,2]: static films for transparent packaging of
electronic components, rechargeable batteries, light-emitting
diodes, nonlinear optical devices, sensor for medicine and
pharmaceutics apparatus, membranes for separation of gas
mixture, protection against corrosion, conducting paints,
glues, and others. It is due mainly to the tailorability of their
chemical and physical properties [3]. A well-known special
’
application of ICP is like radar absorbing materials - RAM.
The research and development of RAM have attracted
considerable interesting in last years due to the importance in
the world community aiming to eliminate or reduce spurious
electromagnetic radiation presents at environment, caused as
consequence of technological advances in telecommunication
area and the proliferation of a wide variety artifacts that
employing high frequencies [4].
The first reported use of Radar Absorbing Materials was
made during World War 11, when the Gxmans applied a
mixture of polymeric foam and carbon black on the
submarine periscopes to avoid radar detection. Since then,
Manuscriptreceived April 6,2003. This work have been supportedin part by
the Brazilian Defense Ministry, CAPES, CNPQ, and FAPESP.
Biscaro, R.S. is with the the lnstituto Tecnolbgico de Aeronautica , S2o
Jose dos CampodSP, CEP. 12228-904. Brazil (phone: 55 (12) 39476434;
fax: 55 (12) 3947-6405; smail: rsbiscaro@directnet.com.br).
Nohara, E.L. is with the Universidade de Taubatt!, UNlTAU -
Deparhmento de Engenharia Meclnica, TaubaWSP, CEP 12060440,Brazil
(e-mail: enohama@directnet.com.br).
Peixoto G.G is with the lnstitutode Aeronautica e Espaqo, Centro Tknico
Aeroespacial SBo Jose dos Campos, S b Paulo, Brazil; e-mail
yilhenne@iae.cta.br).
R. Faez is with the Universidade do Vale do Paraiba, Slo Jose dos
CampodSP, CEP. 12244-000,Brazil (email: faez@univdp.br).
Rezende, M. C is with the Materials Division / IAE, Centro Tknico
Aeroespacial, Slo Jose dos CampodSP, CEP. 12228-904. Brazil (e-mail:
mirabel@iae.cta.br).
0-7803-7824-5/03/$17.0002003 IEEE 355
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many researches have been conducted with the aim of
developing light and practical materials [5,6].
The purpose of the widely broadcasted “Stealth”
technology is the reduction of the aircraft RCS (Radar Cross
Section). The Radar Cross Section is a measure of reflective
behavior of a target defined as 4 R times the ratio of the
scattered power per solid angle unit in a specific direction to
the power per area unit in a incident wive plane on the
scatterer from a specified direction. More precisely, it is the
limit of that ratio as the distance from scatterer to the point
where the scattered power is measured approaches
infinity [7]:
where: E is the scattered electric field and E is the field
incident at the target. Three cases are distinguished:
monostatic or backscatter, forward scattering, and bistatic
scattering.
When the question of radar detection reducing is raised one
talks about Radar Cross Section Reduction (RCSR). The
“Stealth” technology makes use of geometrical means and
material engineering in order to develop low reflection and
high absorption structures -the so called RAM [8].
Many kinds of RAM are generally prepared by blending the
microwave ferrite with some polymeric matrix. However,
fillers based on ferrites present the disadvantage of higher
density (- 4-6 g/cm3) when compared with conducting
polymers (-1 g/cm3) [9]. This is an important characteristic
for military and mainly aerospace point of view on building
aircraft with stealth technology, for example, where the final
weight of materials is one of the most important requirements
to this application.
Great interest has been focused on polyaniline (PAni),
within the conducting polymers field due to its important
characteristics, such as, its easy synthesis route, low cost,
high-yield, high levels of electrical conductivity, excellent
chemical stability. Moreover, these properties can be well
controlled and reproducible. The microwave properties of
PAni are considerably influenced by their structural
parameters which are dependent on synthesis routes, doping
methods and dopant natures [ 10,111.
Because of the poor mechanical properties of ICP it is
necessary to blend them with a matrix, usually based on
polymeric systems. One of the methods to process PAni,
without altering the structure of the polymer, is by blending it
with conventional polymers. These blends may combine the
desired properties of the two components, the electrical
conductivity of PAni with the physical and mechanical
properties of the polymeric matrix [ 12,131.
Proceedings SBMO/IEEE MTT-S IMOC 2003
 11. EXPERIMENTAL
Polyaniline used in paint formulations were obtained such
as described following: PAni emeraldine base (PAni-EB) was
polymerized by chemical oxidation of aniline with
ammonium persulfate (NH4)&08 as oxidant in HCl medium.
PAni-HCI was dedoping in ",OH medium to obtain PAni
emeraldine base (PAni-EB). The conducting polyanilines was
obtained by doping PAni-EB with two different acids:
dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) - PAni-DBSA - and
camphor sulfonic acid (CSA) - PAni-CSA - by reactive
processing method. The processing was carried out into an
internal mixer chamber of a Haake rheometer 600 [ 14,151.
The paint formulations were prepared by mechanical
mixing of polyurethane - PU (of Dexter Company) with 15%
(wlw) of PAni-DBSA and 15% (wlw) of PAni-CSA,
distinctly. The paints containing PAni-DBSA were called P-1
and those containing PAni-CSA were called P-2. P-1 and P-2
formulations were applied on an aluminum flat plate (with
17.0 x 17.0 cm dimension) to get homogeneous films with
thickness of 1.1 and 2.5 mm.
Assessment of formulations (P-1 and P-2) as radar
absorbing materials was carried out at Materials
Division/IAE/CTA using a NRL arch (Figure 1) and a Radar
Cross Section setup. Both systems were coupled to an
Agilent synthesized sweeper 83752A and a HP spectrum
analyser 70000, matched in the frequency range of 8.0 -
12.0 GHz [16,17].
Fig. 1 - The NRL arch used for Radar Absorbing Materials tests.
On the NRL arch an antenna is connected to a microwave
transmitter and the other to a microwave receiver such as
showed in Figure I. Incident microwave energy (sent by the
transmitting horn) reaches the material, which can be
partially absorbed, and the rest is scattered towards the
receiving horn. The reflectivity measurements were carried
out varying the angle between "Tx (transmitter) an9 Rx
(receptor), in the angle range of 10 to 6 0 , in steps of 10.
The setup used for RCS measurements is constituted of: 1)
Anechoic chamber, matched at 8.0 - 12.0 GHi, 2) sweeper
model HP 83752A (Agilent), 3) spectrum analyzer model
70000 (Hewlett Packard, 4) PC computer with GPIB
interface, 5 ) low loss coaxial cables from Huber-Suhner
Company, model Sucoform SM-141-PE (5062), 6) antennas
Tx and Rx, in monostatic configuration, 7) aluminum flat
plate as reference (perfect reflector) with dimensions of
17.0 x 17.0 cm. Additional details of this setup was published
356
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in [ 171. All measurements (NRL arch and RCS) were made
with parallel polarization.
111. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figures 2 and 3 show measurements obtained for P-l and
P-2 formulations with different thicknesses: 1.1 and 2.5 mm,
respectively, using NRL arch with an angle of 10' between
Tx and Rx antennas. The reflectivity results are relative to
aluminum plate being the reference and represented by a line
at 0 dB. It can be observed a great difference on attenuation
between paint formulations and thicknesses of the paints. In
Figure 2 it was observed that P-l presents attenuation lower
than 0.5 dB until 10.0 GHz for the thickness of 1.1 mm and a
maximum attenuation of 1.3 dB in 12.0 GHz for 2.5 mm. For
P-2 formulation it can be observed a higher level of
attenuation when compared with P-1, with typical resonant
behavior (V profile), with maximum attenuation equal to
14 dB at 1 1.8 GHz.
- 4 10 11 12
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 2 -Attenuation values as a function of frequency of P-l
formulation with thicknesses of I. 1 and 2.5 mm.
1 , 2 rnrn
-10
-12
2.6rnm
-14
-16
10 12
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 3 .Attenuation values as a function of frequency of P-2 formulation
with thicknesses of 1. I and 2.5 mm.
Figures 4 and 5 depict curves that allow to correlate the
attenuation of incident radiation (in the frequency range of
8.0 - 12.0 GHz) for P-1 and P-2, respectively, in function of
angles between Tx and Rx - 103 20': 30'; 40", 50° and 60". It
was observed in these Figures that the attenuation increases
with the angles between the antennas, reaching values of 3.5
dB (55%) for P-1 and of 20.0 dB (99%) for P-2, both at 60".
The attenuation increasing with the angle increase of
incident electromagnetic radiation (the angle between Tx and
Rx) in a parallel polarization has already been studied with
 RAM based on polypyrrole composites by Wong and
cols [I]. These authors observed that this behavior is related
to the variation of resistance and capacitance components of
the conducting polymer in function of oblique radiation
incidence. In the parallel polarization, it was observed an
increase of the capacitance component with the incidence
angle and a consequent improvement of attenuation [18].
This behavior is also observed in this work (Figures 4 and 5).
-1
-2
-3 2
4
8 9 10 11 12
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 4. Reflectivity on XBand ofpaht P-l at different incidence angles.
8 9 10 11 12
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 5. Reflectivity on XBand ofpaint P-2 at different incidence angles.
Figures 6 and 7 illustrate RCS results for P-1 and P-2 (with
thickness of 2.5 nun) at specific frequencies of 8.0, 10.0 and
12.0 GHz. Figure 6 shows that P-1 (right graph) promotes a
negligible reduction of the main peak intensity of the
reference (0'' in left graph). At 8.0 GHz it is observed an
attenuation of 2.0 dB (37%) in the main peak and 1.0 -
3.0 dB in other aspect angles. At 10.0 GHz it is observed an
attenuation of 1.5 dB in the main peak and no significant
alteration in another aspect angles. The best result for this
formulation is observed at frequency of 12.0 GHz that
attenuated 4.0 dB (60%) 13the main peak. However, the
diagram characteristic profile of a metallic flat plate is
maintained constant even covered with the P- 1 formulation-
RAM.
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Aspect angle (degrees)
s
c
;
c
a
Aspect a n g l e (degrees)
Aspect angle (degrees)
Fig. 6 - RCS diagam of an aluminum flat panel ( I 7x1 7 cm), reference
side (lei? curve), RAM coated side, P-2 formulation (right curve).
Such as observed previously the measurements with the
RCS setup show higher attenuation when compared with the
results obtained by NRL arch, reaching values of 4.0 dB $
12.0 GHz. These differences are due to the configuration of
the Tx/Rx setup. In NRL arch, the Tx/Rx configuration is
bistatic while in the RCS setup (anechoic chamber) is
monostatic. P- 1 formulation presents good attenuation at
normal incidence of elechomagnetic radiation and at higher
angles between of Tx/Rx. The same behavior is observed for
RAM formulated with P-2.
RCS results of P-2 formulation at 8.0, 10.0 and 12.0 GHz
are presented in Figure 7, where the curves on left represent
diagram of the reference and on right the paint coated side.
At frequency of 8.0 GHz it can be observed that paint P-2
reduces approximately 11.5 dB (93%) the main peak (at 00)
of reference RCS diagram. In other aspect angles the signal
reduction was only about 1.0 - 3.0 dB. At 10.0 GHz it is
observed the same attenuation value of 11.5 dB in the main
peak. A higher attenuation value for this formulation it is
observed in the frequency of 12.0 GHz, reducing 16.0 dB of
the reference diagram in the main peak (0') and 2.0-5.0 dB in
other aspect angles. These .results are concordant with those
obtained by NRL arch measurements (Figure 3) where the
higher efficiency ofmaterials is in frequency of 12.0 GHz.
357
 -E with the angle increase. RCS diagrams showed higher
v) attenuation values than those ones obtained by using the NRL
m I , , , ,

9
‘
J
I
8
,
I
,
I
,
I arch due to the antennas configuration to attend the
c
0 monostatic position (with normal incidence of the radiation).
I

0
0)
(u
RAM formulations, P-1 and P-2, presented good attenuation
Lo performance at normal incidence of radiation, increasing to
Lo
e higher angles between T x k .
m
m
V V. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 The authors thank FAPESP (projects ff: 98115839-4 and
02101410-3) and CNPq (project no: 300599/96) for the
financial support.

REFERENCES

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Handbook of Organic Conductive Molecules and Polymers, v. 2, John
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As observed previously for P-1, the P-2 formulation [I21 M. Zilberman, G. 1. Titelman, A. Siepann, Y. Wba, M. Narkis and D.
presented significant differences on the results obtained by Alperstein, Conductive Blends of Thermally Dodecylbenzene Sulfonic
Acid-Doped Polyaniline with Thermoplastic Polymers, J. Appl. Pol.
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chamber) due to the antennas configuration (monostatic and [I31 M.-A. De Paoli, Conductive polymer blends and composites in
bistatic) as already discussed. At the frequencies of 8 and 10 Handbook of Organic Conductive Molecules and Polymers, v. 2, John
GHz are observed attenuation values of 8 dB by using the Wiley & Sons, New York, 1997.
[I41 Faez, R. and De paoli, M.-A, Elastic Polyaniline with EPDM and
NRL arch (Figures 3 and 4). The RCS measurements show
attenuation values of 11.5 dB. Thus, the P-2-formulation
I ..
dodecvlbenzenesulfonic acid as olasticizers. J. ADD.Polvm. Sci. v. 82.
I I

shows a large attenuation near the normal angle (figure 7), at
frequencies of 8 and 10 GHz.
N . CONCLUSIONS
The processed RAM at Materials Division/IAE/CTA was
evaluated by RCS and NRL arch techniques using a flat panel
as reference, in the range of 8 to 12 GHz. The results have
demonstrated that the efficiency of paints as RAM is strongly
dependent on conducting polymer type - the PAni doping
nature. The best results in terms of attenuation were obtained
for P-2 formulation, based on PAni-CSA system.
NRL arch results showed that the attenuation of these
materials based on conducting polymers (P-1 and P-2) are
dependent of the angle between Tx/Rx. In the same
polarization (parallel), paints presented higher attenuation
p. 17i8-1775, 2001.
[I51 R. S. Biscaro, R. Faez and M. C. Rezende. Reactive doping o f PAni-
-CSA and its use in conducting coatings. Proceedings of XViII Annual
Meeting of Polymer Processing Society (PPS-IS), GuimaGes -
Portugal, 2002.
[I61 M. Franchitto, R. Faez, A. J. F. Orlando, M. C. Rezende and 1. M.
Martin, Electromagnetic Behavior of Radar Absorbing Materials Based
on Conducting Polymers. Proceedings SBMOnEEE MIT S IMOC,
BelCmPA, 2001
[I71 E. L. Nohara; M. A. S. Miacci; 1. M. Martin; M. C. Rezende. Radar
Cross Section Measurements (8-12 GHz) of Flat Plates Painted with
Microwave Absorbing Materials. Proceedings SBMOAEEE MlT -S
IMOC, BelCmPA, p. 263-267, 2001.
[I81 T. C. P. Wong, B. Chambers, A. P Anderson and P. V. Wright,
Characterization of conducting polymer-loaded composite materials at
oblique incidence and their application in radar absorbers. Proceedings
of IEEE Antennas and Propagation, v. 4-7, n. 407, April 1995.

358

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