Composite Structures 77 (2007) 457–465

www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Development of the composite RAS (radar absorbing structure)

for the X-band frequency range
Woo Seok Chin, Dai Gil Lee *

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, ME3221, Guseong-dong, Yuseong-gu,
Daejeon-shi 305-701, Republic of Korea

Available online 13 September 2005

Abstract

Since the EM properties of fiber reinforced polymeric composites can be tailored effectively by adjusting its composition, they are
plausible materials for fabricating the radar absorbing structure (RAS) of desired performance. In this study, the composite RAS
which has superior load bearing capacity and EM absorption characteristics has been developed by blending the conductive carbon
black with the binder matrix of the E-glass/polyester composite, and its EM absorption characteristics has been measured by the free
space method in the X-band frequency range (8.2–12.4 GHz). The composite RAS was designed so as to have the optimal perfor-
mance for the X-band centered at 10 GHz. From the investigation, it was found that the composite RAS of 2.93 mm thickness with
the conductive carbon black absorbed more than 90% of incident EM wave throughout the entire X-band frequency range.
 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Free space method; Carbon black; RAS; Polymeric composite

1. Introduction of objects should be minimized so as to reduce its prob-

Since microwave radars were introduced during the
second world war, they have been the overwhelming
threat to aircrafts because they can detect distant air-
borne targets independent of weather and diurnal varia-
tions. Furthermore, over the years, radar technologies
have been improved drastically with the use of high-
powered large bandwidth transmitters, thereby the
developments of the ‘‘Stealth’’ technologies for evading
radar detection have become more important [1].
The effectiveness with which a radar system can de-
tect a target depends primarily on how much of the elec-
tromagnetic energy illuminating the target is reflected
back to the radar, and this is described by the radar
cross section (RCS) of the target [2]. Therefore, in order
to maximize the performance of stealth techniques, RCS
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 42 869 3221; fax: +82 42 869
5221.
E-mail address: dglee@kaist.ac.kr (D.G. Lee).
ability of detection by radar. Several techniques have
been suggested for RCS reduction, which are broadly
classified into three categories: shaping of the target, ra-
dar absorbing materials (RAM) and radar absorbing
structures (RAS) [1]. Among them, RAS are the most
promising one since RAS are the structures that have
both the functions of load bearing and EM energy
absorbing capability without interfering with the exter-
nal profiles set by the aircraft designers [3]. Since the
EM properties of fiber reinforced polymeric (FRP) com-
posites can be tailored effectively by just adding some
electromagnetic powders, such as carbon black, ferrite,
carbonyl iron, and etc., to the matrix of composites,
they are plausible materials for fabricating the radar
absorbing structure (RAS) of desired load bearing
capacity and EM absorption characteristics. Nowadays,
studies on investigating RAS using FRP composite
materials are becoming popular research field [4].
An electromagnetic wave absorber can be largely di-
vided into two categories according to the absorbing

0263-8223/$ - see front matter  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2005.07.021
458 W.S. Chin, D.G. Lee / Composite Structures 77 (2007) 457–465
principle: the absorber using the magnetic lossy and the
dielectric lossy materials, and the corresponding materi-
als are identified as the magnetic absorber and the
dielectric absorber, respectively.
The magnetic absorber has often been fabricated by
mixing magnetic lossy materials (ferrite, nickel, zinc,
and etc.) with the flexible mediums such as rubber or
polymeric resin. Since this method uses magnetic addi-
tives of high weight, it has a critical weakness of being
heavy and has poor EM absorption characteristics in
the GHz frequency bands because the resonance fre-
quency inducing magnetic losses exits in the MHz range
[5].
The dielectric absorber has been made by adding
some conductive powders like carbon black or silver
particle to the matrix resin in order to induce the dielec-
tric loss by enhancing the conductivity of the mixture.
Among them, the carbon black which has the weight
about one fourteenth of ferrite is widely used due to
its good absorption performance in high frequency
bands [5,6].
In this study, E-glass fiber reinforced polyester com-
posite was fabricated by blending the conductive carbon
black with the binder matrix of the composite material,
and its dielectric properties (complex relative permittiv-
ity) were measured by the free space method in the X-
band frequency range (military band; 8.2–12.4 GHz).
The quantitative analysis of the measured permittivity
was performed with respect to the content of carbon
black to describe the dielectric behavior of heteroge-
neous mixture, and the attenuation behavior of the
FRP composite containing conductive carbon black
was estimated with respect to the thickness and the con-
tent of carbon black. From those results, the optimal de-
sign solution for the composite RAS was suggested
under the constraints of minimizing the thickness and
maximizing the 10 dB absorbing bandwidth within
the X-band frequency range centered at 10 GHz. For
the verification of design solution, the single-layered
composite RAS for optimal performance was fabricated
and its performance was tested with the free space meth-
od. Finally, the composite RAS of 2.93 mm thickness,
which can absorb more than 90% of incident EM wave
throughout the entire X-band frequency range, has been
developed.
2. Materials and dielectric measurement by the
free space method
2.1. Fabrication of composite specimens
Carbon black is widely used for the EM applications
of rubber or polymer based materials as an additive, and
is classified into various classes according to its manu-
facturing methods and structures. Conductive carbon
black can be divided into two kinds; the acetylene black
of needle shape and the porous conductive black.
Among them, the porous conductive black of hollow
shell shape is better than the acetylene black in view of
a performance because it induces conductivity more
effectively with less compounding amount by increasing
the net surface area. In this study, the porous conductive
carbon black (Ketjenblack EC300J; Mitsubishi Chemi-
cal Co., Japan), liquid unsaturated polyester resin
(PC670; Aekyung Chemical, Korea) and E-glass mat
(T800-E06; Dong-il Industrial, Korea) were used to fab-
ricate the organic/inorganic composite specimen. The
areal weight of the E-glass mat used in this study was
0.854 kg/m2 and the linear density of its E-glass fiber
yarn was about 1116–1284 tex (g/km). General proper-
ties of carbon black and polyester resin used in this
study are given in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.
After removing the moisture in the carbon black
powder by drying in a furnace at 80 C for 24 h, it was
mixed with the unsaturated polyester resin, followed
by the mechanical agitation for 1 h. Then, MEKPO
(methyl-ethyl-ketone-peroxide), the cure catalyst, was
added to the compound with the volume ratio of polyes-
ter to catalyst of 100 to 2. Then, this liquid compound
was uniformly applied to five plies of the E-glass mat
and cured at 80 C for 2 h so as to fabricate planar com-
posite specimens with the dimensions of 150 mm
(width) · 150 mm (length) · 4 mm (thickness). In this
study, the composite specimens were manufactured with
several weight fractions (hereafter wt) of carbon black to
polyester resin from 0 to 0.025 with 0.005 intervals
Table 1
General properties of the carbon black (Ketjen Black EC300J)
Properties Values
Surface area (BETa) (m2/g) 950
Pore volume (cm3/g) 1.15
Particle size (nm) 37 nm
DBPb absorption (ml/100 g) 360
pH 9
Volatile content (%) 0.5
Ash content (%) 0.05
a
Method for analyzing the specific surface area of powder, which
was developed by Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller.
b
Dibutyl phthalate.
Table 2
Material properties of the cured unsaturated polyester resin (P670)
Property Value
Flexural strength (MPa) 104
Flexural stiffness (GPa) 3.9
Tensile strength (MPa) 54
Tensile modulus (GPa) 4.1
Tensile strain (%) 1.5
Curing conditions: 1. MEKPO (of 55% peroxide) 1% + Co-Naph (of
6% concentration) 0.1%, room temp. for 24 h, then 60 C for 5 h.
 W.S. Chin, D.G. Lee / Composite Structures 77 (2007) 457–465 459

rather than the volume fraction because it is difficult not
only to measure the exact density of carbon black but
also to fabricate composite specimens with an exact vol-
ume fraction of carbon black. When wt of carbon black
exceeds 0.025, the viscosity of liquid compound sharply
increased due to the increase of the interfacial surface
area between the polyester resin and the carbon black,
which made the further mixing impossible. The mea-
sured fiber volume fraction of the fabricated specimens
was about 42.5%.
2.2. Free space measurement of the dielectric property
The free space method can measure accurately the
electromagnetic properties of anisotropic and inhomo-
geneous media such as ceramics, composites, etc., with-
out excitation of higher order modes, which is seldom
possible in the traditional methods [3].
The free space measurement system (HVS Technolo-
gies, Pennsylvania, USA) used in this study is composed
of a pair of spot-focusing horn lens antennas (transmit-
ting and receiving antennas), a specimen holder,
HP8510C network analyzer, and a personal computer
for data acquisition as shown in Fig. 1. The network
analyzer was used to make precision measurements of
S-parameters (scattering parameters) of the specimen
in the free space, from which the electromagnetic prop-
erties of materials are inversely (or backward)
calculated.
For the measurement of dielectric properties, only the
complex reflection scattering parameter S11 was mea-
sured by placing a perfectly conducting plate behind
the plate of unknown material in order to reflect
all the electromagnetic wave incident on the specimen
by the transmitting antenna, while the front face of the
sample was located at the focal plane of the transmitting
antenna.
In the case of the normal incidence of the transverse
electromagnetic plane wave on the specimen, the reflec-
tion scattering parameter S11 is related to the complex
relative permittivity ½er ¼ e0r  je00r ¼ e0r ð1  j tan dÞ from
the transmission line theory as follows [7]:

Fig. 1. Free space measurement system for characterization of electromagnetic properties of materials: (a) schematic configuration of the free space
measurement system and (b) photographs of the free space measurement system (HVS Technologies, Pennsylvania, USA).
460 W.S. Chin, D.G. Lee / Composite Structures 77 (2007) 457–465

jZ s tanðcs dÞ  1 complex relative permittivity) and the imaginary part

S 11 ¼ ð1Þ
jZ s tanðcs dÞ þ 1 of the complex relative permittivity ðe00r Þ of the composite
pffiffiffiffi specimens increased in proportion to the increase of wt
where Z s ¼ 1= er is the normalized intrinsic impedance
of carbon black, in which the increasing rate of e00r was
of the nonmagnetic specimen and d is the thickness of
larger than that of e0r .
the specimen.
The propagation constant cs of the specimen is ex-
2.3. Dielectric characterization of the composite
pressed in terms of wavelength k0 and er as follows:
material
2p pffiffiffiffi
cs ¼ er ð2Þ
k0 In order to describe the dielectric behavior of the
where k0 is the wavelength of EM wave in the free space. FRP composites containing carbon black with the mix-
After performing the free space calibration, the E- ture rule, the complex permittivity of each constituents
glass/polyester composite specimen containing conduc- of composite should be known accurately with respect
tive carbon black was placed on the specimen holder to the frequency, but it is not easy to obtain the complex
and the complex reflection scattering parameters S11 permittivity of each ingredient experimentally. There-
were measured in the frequency range of 8.2–12.4 GHz fore, in this study, the dielectric behaviors of the E-
(X-band). Then, the complex relative permittivity glass/polyester composite containing carbon black were
ðer ¼ e0r  je00r Þ and loss tangent ðtan d ¼ e00r =e0r Þ for each analyzed quantitatively with respect to the content of
wt were calculated with respect to the frequency from carbon black within polyester resin.
the measured reflection scattering parameter S11. Fig. 3(a) and (b) show the variation of the dielectric
Variation of the complex relative permittivity (er) of constant and the loss tangent of the composite laminate
the composite specimen with respect to wt of carbon with respect to the weight fraction (wt) of carbon black
black at the X-band frequency range is shown in to polyester resin at 10 GHz frequency (center frequency
Fig. 2. Both the dielectric constant ðe0r ; real part of the of the X-band), respectively. As shown in Fig. 3, both e0r

Dielectric Constant at 10 GHz

7.5 8
wt = 0.025
7
Dielectric Constant
Dielectric Constant

7
6.5
0.02
6
6 0.015

5.5 0.01 5

5 0.005
4
4.5
0
4 3

8.2 8.8 9.4 10 10.6 11.2 11.8 12.4 0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
(a) Frequency (GHz) (a) Weight Fraction of CB
Imaginary Relative Permittivity

5 Loss Tangent at 10 GHz

wt = 0.025 0.8
4

0.02 0.6
Loss Tangent

2 0.4
0.015 0.01

1
0.005 0.2
0
0
8.2 8.8 9.4 10 10.6 11.2 11.8 12.4 0
(b) Frequency (GHz) 0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
(b) Weight Fraction of CB
Fig. 2. Variation of the complex relative permittivity of the E-glass/
polyester composite laminate containing conductive carbon black with Fig. 3. Variation of the dielectric properties of the E-glass/polyester
respect to wt of carbon black and the EM frequency: (a) variation of composite containing conductive carbon black with respect to wt of
the dielectric constant and (b) variation of imaginary part of the carbon black at 10 GHz frequency: (a) dielectric constant and (b) loss
complex relative permittivity. tangent.
 W.S. Chin, D.G. Lee / Composite Structures 77 (2007) 457–465 461

and tan d show the tendencies of linear increment with e0r ðf ; wtÞ ¼ aðf Þ  wt þ e0r;0 ðf Þ ð5Þ
respect to the carbon black loading. tan dðf ; wtÞ ¼ bðf Þ  wt þ tan d0 ðf Þ ð6Þ
From the linear regression analysis of the experimen-
tal results shown in Fig. 3, the dielectric properties of the Then, the imaginary part of the complex relative per-
composite were obtained with respect to wt as the fol- mittivity of the composite e00r could be obtained from the
lowing first-order equation: following relation:
e0r ¼ a  wt þ e0r;0 ð3Þ e00r ¼ tan d  e0r ð7Þ
tan d ¼ b  wt þ tan d0 ð4Þ Since the parameters a and b in Eqs. (5) and (6) con-
tain the information not only about the dielectric char-
where e0r and tan d designate the dielectric constant and
acteristics of carbon black but also about the
loss tangent of the E-glass/polyester composite contain-
interactions between carbon black and matrix polymer,
ing carbon black with an arbitrary wt of carbon black,
it is possible to describe the dielectric behavior of the
and e0r;0 and tan d0 designate those of the E-glass/polyes-
composite by the suggested method without the knowl-
ter composite with no carbon black, respectively. The
edge of the permittivity of carbon black. Therefore, if
constants in Eqs. (3) and (4) are functions of a frequency
e0r;0 ðf Þ and tan d0f of any fiber reinforced polymeric com-
f. The parameters a and b indicate the linear increment
posite and the parameters a and b with respect to fre-
of the dielectric constant and loss tangent with respect
quency are given, the estimation of the complex
wt of carbon black, respectively.
relative permittivity of the composite laminate might
The parameters a and b in Eqs. (3) and (4) for the E-
be possible with respect to the content of carbon black.
glass/polyester composite with carbon black changed
according to the frequency variation as shown in
Fig. 4, from which they were expressed as functions of
a frequency f (GHz) as follows: 3. Numerical analysis for obtaining optimal design
solutions

Parameter a w.r.t. Frequency 3.1. Simulation of the attenuation characteristics

120
From the measured complex relative permittivity of
100
the E-glass/polyester composite laminates with wt = 0
80 and wt = 0.025 of carbon black, the information to con-
struct Eqs. (5)–(7) was obtained, and then the empirical
60
a

a ( f ) = -9.7801f + 180.51
2
formula for describing the complex relative permittivity
R = 0.9972
40 of the composite of an arbitrary carbon black content
was derived. When a conducting metal plate is placed
20 behind the RAS, its EM absorption characteristics can
0 be evaluated in terms of the reflection loss RS or atten-
8.2 8.8 9.4 10 10.6 11.2 11.8 12.4 uation value, which is defined in the following equation:
(a) Frequency (GHz)
RS ðdBÞ ¼ 20 log jS 11 j ð8Þ
Parameter b w.r.t. Frequency Using Eqs. (1) and (8), and the derived formula for
25
the complex permittivity, the reflection loss of the sin-
gle-layered composite laminate was simulated with re-
20
spect to wt of carbon black and laminate thickness at
15
b ( f ) = -1.5599f + 34.783 10 GHz frequency. Since this study is mainly concerned
2
R = 0.9532 with the absorption of the X-band frequency range, the
b

10 center frequency was set to 10 GHz in order to design an

optimal RAS corresponding to the frequency. The max-
5 imum reflection loss and the thickness corresponding to
the maximum reflection loss were the two most impor-
0 tant parameters for evaluating the performance of sin-
8.2 8.8 9.4 10 10.6 11.2 11.8 12.4
(b) Frequency (GHz) gle-layered composite RAS. Therefore, the main
objective of this study was to construct the RAS of max-
Fig. 4. Variation of the parameters a and b of the composite laminate imum 10 dB (absorb more than 90% of incident EM
with respect to the EM frequency f (GHz): (a) parameter a for
indicating the linear increment of the dielectric constant with respect
wave) absorbing bandwidth with minimum thickness.
wt of carbon black and (b) parameter b for indicating the linear Figs. 5–10 show the calculated reflection losses of the
increment of the loss tangent with respect wt of carbon black. E-glass/polyester laminates with six different wt of
462 W.S. Chin, D.G. Lee / Composite Structures 77 (2007) 457–465

carbon black with respect to the laminate thickness. As tics. However, as wt of carbon black increased, the
shown in Fig. 5, in the case of the composite laminate thickness for matching decreased and the maximum
with no carbon black (wt = 0), the resonance or match- reflection loss increased as shown in Figs. 6–10. Except
ing for sufficient EM absorption did not occur, even
with increased thickness due to its low-loss characteris-
Reflection Loss w.r.t. Thickness at 10 GHz
0
Reflection Loss w.r.t. Thickness at 10 GHz
0

Reflection Loss (dB)

-2
Reflection Loss (dB)

-5

-4

-6 -10

-8

-10 -15
0 10 20 30 40 50
-12
0 20 40 60 80 100 Thickness (mm)
Thickness (mm)
Fig. 8. Variation of the reflection loss of the E-glass/polyester
Fig. 5. Variation of the reflection loss of the E-glass/polyester composite (wt = 0.015) with respect to the laminate thickness at
composite (wt = 0) with respect to the laminate thickness at 10 GHz. 10 GHz.

Reflection Loss w.r.t. Thickness at 10 GHz Reflection Loss w.r.t. Thickness at 10 GHz
0 0
Reflection Loss (dB)

-5
Reflection Loss (dB)

-5

-10
-10
-15

-15
-20

-25 -20
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Thickness (mm) Thickness (mm)

Fig. 6. Variation of the reflection loss of the E-glass/polyester Fig. 9. Variation of the reflection loss of the E-glass/polyester
composite (wt = 0.005) with respect to the laminate thickness at composite (wt = 0.02) with respect to the laminate thickness at
10 GHz. 10 GHz.

Reflection Loss w.r.t. Thickness at 10 GHz Reflection Loss w.r.t. Thickness at 10 GHz
0
0
Reflection Loss (dB)

-10
Reflection Loss (dB)

-10
-20

-20
-30

-30 -40

-50
-40
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Thickness (mm) Thickness (mm)

Fig. 7. Variation of the reflection loss of the E-glass/polyester Fig. 10. Variation of the reflection loss of the E-glass/polyester
composite (wt = 0.01) with respect to the laminate thickness at composite (wt = 0.025) with respect to the laminate thickness at
10 GHz. 10 GHz.
 W.S. Chin, D.G. Lee / Composite Structures 77 (2007) 457–465
for the specimen with no carbon black, the reflection
loss converged on a certain value as the thickness in-
creased because the reflected wave from the back surface
was not enough to destruct the surface reflection wave.
In the cases of the composite laminates with wt = 0.02
and wt = 0.025, matching of 20 dB, or more loss, oc-
curred below 5 mm thickness, which is a very appropri-
ate thicknesses and absorption performance. Therefore,
it was concluded that the optimal design solution of the
content of carbon black for the single-layered composite
RAS might exist within the range of 0.02 6 wt 6 0.025.
In order to verify the above results, the reflection loss
of the composite laminates with wt = 0.02 and
wt = 0.025 were simulated with respect to the frequency
and the thickness simultaneously as shown in Fig. 11.
From the result of Fig. 11(b), it was found that the com-
posite laminate of 3 mm thickness with wt = 0.025 was
Fig. 11. Variation of the reflection loss of the E-glass/polyester
composite with respect to the frequency f (GHz) and the laminate
thickness: (a) wt = 0.02 and (b) wt = 0.025.
463
almost close to the optimal design solution that this
study aimed to achieve.
3.2. Optimal design solution for the single-layered
composite RAS
From the previous experiments and simulation re-
sults, the design specification of the single-layered com-
posite RAS for optimal performance was suggested.
Since that design solution was derived from the dielec-
tric properties of the composite laminate composed of
five plies of the E-glass mat (T800-E06), the results ob-
tained so far are valid to the laminate whose fiber vol-
ume fraction is about 42.5%. In order to fabricate the
composite laminate about 3 mm thickness, four plies
of the E-glass mat was required, and this would alter
the final fiber volume fraction of laminate due to the
predetermined areal weight and the restricted thickness
of the E-glass mat. Actually, the composite laminate
composed of four plies of the E-glass mat had the thick-
ness about 3 mm and the fiber volume fraction about
46%, respectively. Since it is known that the dielectric
properties of FRP composite are affected by its fiber vol-
ume fraction [8], the previous design solution should be
modified considering the change in the fiber volume
fraction of the composite RAS.
For this purpose, the E-glass/polyester composite
laminates with wt = 0 and wt = 0.025 of carbon black
were fabricated using four plies of the E-glass mat,
and their complex permittivities were measured by the
free space method in the X-band frequency range. On
the assumption that the dielectric constant and loss tan-
gent of the composite laminates will follow the previ-
ously observed linear increment tendencies, the
parameters a and b was obtained by the linear fitting
of measured data, and finally Eqs. (5)–(7) for the fiber
volume fraction of 46% were constructed. As shown in
Fig. 12, the complex relative permittivity increased as
the fiber volume fraction increased. This tendency was
irrespective of the frequency.
Through the similar numerical analysis on the reflec-
tion loss with respect to wt of carbon black and the
thickness, the modified design solution of the composite
RAS for the X-band was suggested, where wt = 0.0195
and 2.93 mm thickness were chosen as the optimum car-
bon black loading and the thickness, respectively.
Fig. 13 shows the predicted reflection loss of the sin-
gle-layered composite RAS for the suggested design
solution in the X-band frequency range.
3.3. Performance test of the composite RAS
In order to verify the optimal design solution for the
single-layered composite RAS, the composite RAS with
wt = 0.019 and wt = 0.02 were fabricated considering
the deviation of dielectric properties caused by the
464 W.S. Chin, D.G. Lee / Composite Structures 77 (2007) 457–465

fabrication process. For each composite RAS, four plies 0

Reflection Loss w.r.t. Frequency
of the E-glass mat (T800-E06) and the polyester resin
(PC670) mixed with the conductive carbon black -10

Amplitude (dB)
(EC300J) were used. The thickness and the fiber volume
fraction of fabricated composite RAS were 2.93 mm and -20
46%, respectively.
Figs. 14 and 15 show the measured reflection loss of -30

each composite RAS by the free space method in the Optimal Design Solution
-40
X-band frequency rangae, where the comparisons with
the predicted results are also depicted. As shown in Figs. -50
14 and 15, good agreements between the measured and 8.2 8.8 9.4 10 10.6 11.2 11.8 12.4
the predicted reflection loss were observed, which con- Frequency (GHz)
firms the validity of the design method for the composite Fig. 13. Reflection loss of the single-layered composite RAS of
RAS suggested in this study. 2.93 mm thickness at wt = 0.0195 (optimal design solution) with
In order to evaluate the performance of the single- respect to the frequency (X-band: 8.2–2.4 GHz).
layered composite RAS, 10 dB (absorb 90% of inci-
dent EM wave) and 20 dB (absorb 99% of incident
EM wave) absorbing bandwidth were considered as Reflection Loss w.r.t. Frequency
0
the measure of performance. As shown in Fig. 14, the 8.2 8.8 9.4 10 10.6 11.2 11.8 12.4
-5
composite RAS with wt = 0.019 has 10 dB absorbing
Reflection Loss (dB)
bandwidth of 3.6 GHz (8.5–12.1 GHz), 20 dB absorb- -10
ing bandwidth of 1.0 GHz (9.6–10.6 GHz), and the max- -15
imum reflection loss of 33 dB, while the composite
RAS with wt = 0.02 has those of 3.7 GHz (8.6– -20

12.3 GHz), 1.13 GHz (9.65–10.78 GHz), and 55 dB, -25
Measured Result
-30 Predicted Result

Dielectric Constant at 10 GHz -35

9
Frequency (GHz)
8
Fig. 14. Comparison of the measured reflection loss of the single-
Dielectric Constant

layered composite RAS of 2.93 mm thickness at wt = 0.019 with the

7
prediction result by the method suggested in this study.
6

5
Fiber Volume Fraction = 42.5%
Reflection Loss w.r.t. Frequency
4 0
Fiber Volume Fraction = 46%
8.2 8.8 9.4 10 10.6 11.2 11.8 12.4
3
-10
Reflection Loss (dB)

0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03

(a) Weight Fraction of CB
-20

Loss Tangent at 10 GHz -30

1
Fiber Volume Fraction = 42.5% -40
0.8
Measured Result
Fiber Volume Fraction = 46% -50 Predicted Result
Loss Tangent

0.6
-60
Frequency (GHz)
0.4
Fig. 15. Comparison of the measured reflection loss of the single-
0.2 layered composite RAS of 2.93 mm thickness at wt = 0.02 with the
prediction result by the method suggested in this study.
0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03
(b) Weight Fraction of CB respectively, as shown in Fig. 15. From the investiga-
tion, it was found that the single-layered composite
Fig. 12. Variation of the dielectric properties of the E-glass/polyester
RAS with wt = 0.02 could absorb more than 90% of
composite with respect to wt of carbon black and the fiber volume
fraction at 10 GHz frequency: (a) dielectric constant and (b) loss incident EM wave throughout the entire X-band fre-
tangent. quency range.
 W.S. Chin, D.G. Lee / Composite Structures 77 (2007) 457–465
4. Conclusions
In this study, a single-layered composite RAS (radar
absorbing structure) was developed not only to carry
loads but also to absorb the significant amount of inci-
dent EM wave in the X-band frequency range. For this,
the E-glass/polyester composite was fabricated by
blending the conductive carbon black with the binder
matrix of the composite material, and its dielectric prop-
erties were measured by the free space method in that
frequency range. From the quantitative analysis of the
measured permittivity and the numerical analysis on
the reflection loss of the FRP composite containing con-
ductive carbon black, the method for designing the sin-
gle-layered composite RAS was suggested, and the
optimal design solution was suggested under the con-
straints of minimizing the thickness and maximizing
the 10 dB absorbing bandwidth within the X-band fre-
quency range. The single-layered composite RAS for
optimal performance (2.93 mm thickness, wt = 0.02)
showed 10 dB absorbing bandwidth of 3.7 GHz,
20 dB absorbing bandwidth of 1.13 GHz, and the
maximum reflection loss of 55 dB within the X-band
frequency range. Finally, the composite RAS of
2.93 mm thickness, which can absorb more than 90%
of incident EM wave throughout the entire X-band fre-
quency range, has been developed.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported financially by the Korean
Government under NRL (National Research Labora-
465
tory) projects and, in part, by BK 21 Project. Also it
was supported by ADD (Agency for Defense Develop-
ment) of the Korean Ministry of National Defense.
The authors would like to thank to their financial
support.
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