High-aspect-ratio ZrC whiskers:Synthesis,growth mechanism and electromagnetic wave absorption properties

Stealth materials with high dependability at elevated temperatures and outstanding mechanical properties are urgently needed for practical applications.As one-dimensional ultrahigh temperature ceramic(UHTC)materials,zirconium carbide whiskers(ZrCw)have attracted a great deal of attention due to their desirable mechanical and ablation resistance performance in high-temperature environments.We have successfully synthesized ZrCw using a carbothermal reduction technique without the introduction of metal catalytic in this paper.ZrCw shows a typically prismatic structure with the diameter of 1e2 mm and the aspect ratio of up to 250.The growth of ZrCw is controlled by a solid-liquid-solid(SLS)and vaporsolid(VS)compound mechanism in conjunction with the auxiliary action of mesophase Na3ZrF7.The ZrCw/paraffin hybrids achieve the minimum reflection loss(RL(min))of
25.77 dB at 13.28 GHz under the thickness of 1.25 mm,and reach an effective absorption bandwidth(EAB)of 3.04 GHz(14.96 e18.00 GHz)with a thickness of only 1.0 mm.This work presents a promising approach for large-scale producing high-purity whiskers,and verifies that ZrCw has extensive application prospects in the field of stealth materials.