Recent
studies to explore the enhanced electromagnetic properties
of TiN and TiC reported that TiNC has a good performance in EM wave
absorption. We prepared TiNC with quantificational percentages of
carbon doping in this work. Nanotitanium oxide precursor was prepared
via sol–gel method, then submicron TiN(1–x)C
x
with different carbon
content (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8) was obtained
via solid–gas reaction by nitriding at 900 °C with nitrogen
and carbon doping at 1700 °C with argon. The composition and
structure of TiN(1–x)C
x
change with the increase of carbon content, the
lattice distortion and dipole moments were introduced into TiN crystal
via carbon doping which leads to optimization of the electromagnetic
properties. The influence of carbon doping was analyzed, and at carbon
= 0.8, the attenuation factor “α” and impedance
matching “Δ” of the sample achieved a better balance
that results in a better wave absorbing effect. The resulting bandwidth
lower than −10 dB is in the range 11.1 to 13.6 GHz, and the
reflection loss reached to −40.1 dB at 12.4 GHz with the sample
thickness of 1.32 mm. The frequency of maximum reflection loss obeys
the quarter-wavelength matching model. TiN(1–x)C
x
shows good electromagnetic
absorbing properties and it is in accordance with the “thin,
light, wide, strong” application requirements of microwave
absorption materials.