Radar-absorbing foam-based sandwich composite with electroless nickel-plated glass fabric

Abstract This study presents a broadband radar-absorbing foam-based sandwich structure (RAS) composed of a foam core, glass fiber–reinforced polymer (GFRP), and electroless nickel–plated glass fabric. The nickel-coated fiber (NCF) for electromagnetic wave absorption is prepared using electroless nickel plating on glass fabric with discussing the detailed electromagnetic wave absorption mechanisms relationship between the plating thickness and the skin depth in terms of lossy dielectric properties. To design the broadband NCF RAS, transmission line theory linked with a genetic algorithm is used to optimize the absorption performance. The EM wave absorption performance of fabricated broadband NCF RAS was measured using by using a free-space measurement system operating from 5.8 GHz to 18 GHz. From the measurement and the tolerance analysis, the proposed NCF RAS works well in the designed frequency range and is very robust for the fabrication tolerance. In addition, a flatwise tensile test was performed according to ASTM C297 to check the influence between the NCF and the foam core materials in terms of interfacial behavior. It has been indicated that they have no significant effect on interfacial properties.