Effect of Temperature on Microwave Permeability of an Air-Stable Composite Filled with Gadolinium Powder.

A composite containing about 30% volume of micrometer-size powder of gadolinium in paraffin wax is synthesized mechanochemically. The composite permittivity and permeability are measured within the frequency range from 0.01 to 15 GHz and the temperature range from ~0 °C to 35 °C. The permittivity is constant within the measured ranges. Curie temperature of the composite is close to 15.5 °C, the phase transition is shown to take place within a temperature range about ±10 °C. The effect of temperature deviation from Curie point on reflection and transmission of a composite layer filled with Gd powder is studied experimentally and via simulation. Constitutive parameters of the composite are measured in cooled coaxial lines applying reflection-transmission and open-circuit-short-circuit techniques, and the measured low-frequency permeability is in agreement with the values retrieved from the published magnetization curves. The effect of temperature on permeability spectrum of the composite is described in terms of cluster magnetization model based on the Wiener mixing formula. The model is applied to design a microwave screen with variable attenuation; the reflectivity attenuation of 4.5 mm-thick screen increases from about -2 dB to -20 dB at 3.5 GHz if the temperature decreases from 25 °C to 5 °C.

Deposition of a SiO2 Shell of Variable Thickness and Chemical Composition to Carbonyl Iron: Synthesis and Microwave Measurements.

Protective SiO2 coating deposited to iron microparticles is highly demanded both for the chemical and magnetic performance of the latter. Hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane is the crucial method for SiO2 deposition from a solution. The capabilities of this technique have not been thoroughly studied yet. Here, two factors were tested to affect the chemical composition and the thickness of the SiO2 shell. It was found that an increase in the hydrolysis reaction time thickened the SiO2 shell from 100 to 200 nm. Moreover, a decrease in the acidity of the reaction mixture not only thickened the shell but also varied the chemical composition from SiO3.0 to SiO8.6. The thickness and composition of the dielectric layer were studied by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. Microwave permeability and permittivity of the SiO2-coated iron particles mixed with a paraffin wax matrix were measured by the coaxial line technique. An increase in thickness of the silica layer decreased the real quasi-static permittivity. The changes observed were shown to agree with the Maxwell Garnett effective medium theory. The new method developed to fine-tune the chemical properties of the protective SiO2 shell may be helpful for new magnetic biosensor designs as it allows for biocompatibility adjustment.