Methods of Protecting Buildings against HPM Radiation—A Review of Materials Absorbing the Energy of Electromagnetic Waves

Abstract

The pulsed high power microwave (HPM) technology has been developed worldwide for over 20 years. The sources of HPM pulses are a weapon of mass destruction. They pose danger especially to computer and telecommunications equipment and systems, both the military and civilian ones. This paper presents a survey of literature on electromagnetic wave radiation absorbing and shielding materials to be used in construction. Relevant protective measures should include the shielding of buildings or their parts and the absorption of radiation by building envelopes and their elements. The main focus is on the possibilities of improving the shielding and absorptive properties of common construction materials, such as concrete, mortars and synthetic resins. The survey covers the following groups of materials: carbon-based admixtures, nickel powder, iron powders, ferrites, magnetite and polymers. The final part of the survey is devoted to hybrid foam microwave absorbers in which the shape of the material’s inner structure and that of its surface play a special role.

A Systematic Review of HPM Energy Absorbers for Building Applications

“…In the case of a single-layer board containing 3% CB, the shielding effectiveness amounted to 10 dB in the frequency ranges of 2-3 GHz and 7-18 GHz. The shielding effectiveness of a double layer mineral wool board exceeded 10 dB in the whole frequency range (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). The results show that mineral wool boards containing a carbon addition had good absorptive properties and could be used to protect buildings against electromagnetic pulses.…”

“…This article is a sequel to a previous paper by the authors [15], which presented a review of materials that absorb electromagnetic radiation and shield against it. [15] focused mainly on EM radiation-absorbing additions that could potentially be used to modify common building materials such as concrete, resins, or rubber.…”

“…This article is a sequel to a previous paper by the authors [15], which presented a review of materials that absorb electromagnetic radiation and shield against it. [15] focused mainly on EM radiation-absorbing additions that could potentially be used to modify common building materials such as concrete, resins, or rubber. In particular, the following groups of materials were considered: carbon-based materials [16][17][18][19][20], nickel powder [5][6][7][8], iron powder [21,22], ferrites [23,24], magnetites [25][26][27], polymers and hybrid composite structures [28][29][30].…”

High power microwave for knocking out programmable suicide drones

“…Simultaneously, upset and damage effects to standard electronic component coupling are typically associated with field strengths of 8 kV/m (bitter) and 15 to 20 kV/M (crack). The AFRL considers a field of electrical potential of 200 V/m or more robust as a threat to sensitive electronics in general (Majcher et al, 2020). This field strength is readily attainable with current HPM systems at combat-relevant ranges (Gu et al, 2020).…”

Transmission, Reflection and Dissipation of Microwaves in Magnetic Composites with Nanocrystalline Finemet-Type Flakes

“…Improved electromagnetic shielding and absorption properties are obtained for a polymer-metal composite based on polyvinylidene fluoride dispersed with varying concentration of nanocrystalline iron [9]. The possibilities of improving the shielding and absorptive properties of carbon-Materials 2021, 14, 3499 2 of 15 based admixtures, nickel powder, iron powder, ferrites, magnetite and other materials from the pulsed, high power microwave irradiation have been reviewed in [10].…”