Lightweight zirconium modified carbon–carbon composites with excellent microwave absorption and mechanical properties

With the rapid development of space technology, multi-functional materials with advantages such as heat insulation, lightweight, and electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption have gained broad application prospects. Since porous carbon fiber reinforced carbon (C/C) composites often have lightweight and high heat insulation properties, improving their mechanical and electromagnetic wave absorbing properties will significantly expand their application. In this study, a new kind of zirconium-modified C/C (Zr-C/C) composites prepared by polymer infiltration and pyrolysis using zirconium-modified phenolic resin is presented. By adjusting the content of Zr, the compressive strengths of the composites are increased up to 48% compared with the composites without Zr, while the thermal insulation properties are little changed. The incorporation of zirconium can make the composites exhibit better microwave absorption performance to some extent, and Zr-C/C composites with 10% zirconium have the best microwave absorption performance among all the samples. The excellent electromagnetic wave absorption performance of Zr-C/C composites is attributed to the enhanced interfacial polarization effect and the improved electrical conductivities of the material due to its internal carbon microsphere structure. Multi-functional Zr-C/C composites that combine lightweight, high thermal insulation, high compressive strength, and high electromagnetic wave absorption have obvious applications in fields such as stealth aircraft. Therefore, this work provides a new way to prepare multi-functional materials.