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The undesirable absorption bandwidth is the main limitation for the application of microwave absorbing materials. Noting that the design of structure and composition of absorbing coating allows it to obtain a satisfying absorption bandwidth and to avoid weight increasing, honeycomb and its sandwich structures coated by various absorbant have been developed and measured using an arch measurement system over 2−18 GHz. To further understand the absorption mechanisms of honeycomb structural materials, simulation based on finite element method and transmission line theory is performed to analyze the different responses to the applied microwave between honeycomb structural materials and uniform-medium slab materials. The proper composition design allows control over the microwave loss mechanisms, which optimize the coating to possess both of the dielectric and magnetic advantages. For the honeycomb structural materials, the magnetic resonation is found for the first time, which is resulting from the periodic honeycomb walls on both sides of the dielectric cavity (consisting of the aramid paper interlayer and vacuum hexagonal prisms). In addition, the conversion of structure from solid to honeycomb brings about changes in impedance, propagating path, effective wavelength, effective attenuation area, microwave phases, and inductive coupling effect, etc., which result in a better microwave absorbing performance. The honeycomb sandwich structure coated by CIP/CB/EP with the weight ratio of 4:0.03:1 shows the absorption bandwidth of ∼9.8 GHz for reflection loss (RL) lower than -10 dB which covers part of the S and C bands and almost the whole X and Ku bands.

The earliest microwave absorbing materials (MAMs) are fabricated in the early 20th century for military purpose to inhibit radar detection. Currently, the application of MAMs has been existing in every part of human's life to prevent radiation and interference. The microwave absorbant and microwave absorbing coatings classified by composition including alloys, metal oxides, conductive polymers, carbon materials, ceramic materials both in traditional and innovative forms are introduced in this work. Considering the harsh and complex application environment, MAMs with high temperature resistance and infrared-compatible stealth performance are involved. Metamaterials, showing excellent electromagnetic properties which are far beyond that of the materials can achieve, including perfect absorber, digitally coded control metamaterials, bionic structural materials, and adjustable smart metamaterials, are also introduced specifically in this work. In addition, to investigate electromagnetic response of absorbant, the first-principles calculations works are overviewed. The electromagnetic properties, loss mechanisms, structure, fabrication method, regulation approaches, designing principles, current applications, and future prospects of MAMs are involved in this work. This work gives a comprehensively overview over the MAMs for their theoretical and experimental advances in recent years including the military radar (frequency range of 2–18 GHz) stealth materials, relevant infrared compatible (infrared-visible, infrared-radar, infrared-laser) stealth materials, and other stealth materials with multifrequency adaptability.

Electromagnetic wave absorption materials for megahertz (MHz) frequency range remains a key core issue that the poor effective attenuation performance and impedance mismatch. Based on previous research and theoretical analysis, an effective solution is to improve the real and imaginary parts of the complex permeability. In addition, the absorbents are also required to have excellent temperature stability and oxidation resistance due to exposure to harsh environments such as air and high temperature. Herein, the FeCoNiCr0.4CuX high entropy alloys powders (HEAs) with planar anisotropy are prepared by mechanical alloying method. Relying on the “cocktail effect” of HEAs, the addition of appropriate Cu element can increase the aspect ratio of the particles and the shape-dependent anisotropy field to further improve the permeability. Experimentally, the real part of the permeability for the FeCoNiCr0.4Cu0.2 HEAs ranges from 2.7 to 7.5 and the imaginary part of the permeability can reach 2.7 in the MHz frequency range. The maximum reflection loss can reach −33.6 dB at 484 MHz and the effective absorption bandwidth (reflection loss