Lightweight composites combining electromagnetic wave absorption and excellent mechanical properties are required in spacecraft and aircraft. A one- dimensional metamaterial absorber consisting of a stack of glass fibre/epoxy layers and graphene nanoplatelets/epoxy films was proposed and fabricated through a facile air-spraying based printing technology and a liquid resin infusion method. The production process allows an optimum dispersion of graphene nanoplatelets, promoting adhesion and mechanical integration of the glass fibre/epoxy layers with the graphene nanoplatelets/epoxy films. According to experimental results, the proposed wide-band absorber provides a reflection coefficient lower than −10 dB in the range 8.5–16.7 GHz and an improvement of flexural modulus of more than 15%, with a total thickness of ∼1 mm. Outstanding electromagnetic wave absorption and mechanical performance make the proposed absorber more competitive in aeronautical and aerospace applications.

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Radar-absorbing structures (RASs) with improved mechanical properties and subwavelength thickness are of particular interest for aerospace applications and electromagnetic (EM) interference control. This article proposes a new RAS, made of a graphene-filled lossy laminate (LL) with impedance adapter, having a total thickness less than 4 mm and a normalized absorption bandwidth of 84% in the frequency range 6-18 GHz. The RAS is designed by applying an innovative simulation approach of the graphene-filled LL, which is based on the multiscale Maxwell Garnett model and the effective medium theory. Experimental tests are performed in order to validate the developed model and to assess the absorption properties of the produced RAS, having a minimum reflection of −30 dB and an absorption bandwidth at −10 dB of 10 GHz, with a central frequency of 12 GHz and a graphene nanoplatelets concentration less than 5 g/m 2 .