Sustainable renewable polymer foam used as a lightweight porous skeleton for microwave absorption is a novel strategy that can effectively solve the problems of the large surface density, high additive amount, and narrow absorbing band of absorbing materials. In this article, novel renewable microwave-absorbing foams were prepared using Sapiumse biferum kernel oil-based polyurethane foam (BPUF) as porous matrix and Fe3O4-nanoparticles as magnetic absorbents. The microstructure and the microwave absorption performance, the structural effects on the properties, and electromagnetic mechanism of the magnetic BPUF (mBPUF) were systematically characterized and analyzed. The results show that the mBPUF displayed a porous hierarchical structure and was multi-interfacial, which provided a skeleton and matching layer for the Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The effective reflection loss (RL ≤ -10 dB) frequency of the mBPUF was from 4.16 GHz to 18 GHz with only 9 wt% content of Fe3O4 nanoparticles at a thickness of 1.5~5 mm. The surface density of the mBPUF coatings was less than 0.5 kg/cm2 at a thickness of 1.8 mm. The lightweight characteristics and broadband absorption were attributed to the porous hierarchical structures and the dielectric combined with the magnetic loss effect. It indicates that the mBPUF is a prospective broadband-absorbing material in the field of lightweight stealth materials.
Keywords: bio-based polyurethane; hierarchical microstructure; lightweight magnetic foam; microwave absorption mechanism.