Effect of cathode vibration and heat treatment on electromagnetic properties of flake-shaped diatomite coated with Ni–Fe alloy by electroplating

Abstract In this paper, flake-shaped diatomite particles were used as forming templates for the fabrication of the ferromagnetic functional fillers by way of electroplating Ni–Fe alloy method. The effects of cathode vibration frequency on the content of Ni–Fe alloy in the coating and the surface morphologies of the coatings were evaluated. The electromagnetic properties of the coated diatomite particles before and after heat treatment were also investigated in detail. The results show that the core-shell flake-shaped diatomite particles with high content of Ni–Fe alloy and good surface qualities of the coatings can be obtained by adjusting cathode vibration frequency. The coated diatomite particles with heat treatment filled paraffin wax composites exhibit a superior microwave absorbing and electromagnetic properties compared to the non-heat treated samples. Additionally, the peaks of reflection loss are found to be able to shift to lower frequency by the heat treatment process, which indicates the heat treatment can adjust microwave absorbing frequency band.