Preparation and electromagnetic characteristics of a novel iron-coated carbon fiber

A novel iron-coated carbon fiber was fabricated electrochemically. The magnetic properties, complex permeability, and complex permittivity were measured. It was found that iron-coated fiber-epoxy composites with different mass loadings have different magnetic resonance frequencies. The resonance frequency of the 75 wt% sample is higher than that of the 80 wt% sample due to the influence of the demagnetization field. The epsilon'(e) value of both composite samples exhibits a high value in the frequency range of 2 to 18 GHz, which is due to the longer conducting length of the fiber and the good conductivity of the iron. The values of epsilon"(e) are also high, which is attributed to the intrinsic electric property of the carbon fiber. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.