Hollow glass microspheres coated with CoFe2O4 and its microwave absorption property

Spinel CoFe2O4 coating on the surface of hollow glass microspheres of low density was synthesized by co-precipitation method. The phase structures, morphologies, particle size, shell thickness, chemical compositions of the composites have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The results show that CoFe2O4 coating on hollow glass microspheres can be achieved, and the coating layers are constituted by CoFe2O4 nanoparticles of mean size ca. 10 nm. The as-synthesized powder materials were uniformly dispersed into the phenolic cement, then the mixture was pasted on metal plate with the area of 200 mm×200 mm as the test plate. The test of microwave absorption was carried out by the radar-absorbing materials (RAM) reflectivity far field radar cross-section (RCS) method. The results indicate that the coated CoFe2O4/hollow glass microspheres composites can be applied in lightweight and strong absorption microwave absorbers.