Effects of graphite on the mechanical and microwave absorption properties of geopolymer based composites

Abstract In this paper graphite/metakaolin was first ball-milled to get homogeneous powder, which was then mixed with potassium silicate solution through mechanically stirring. Post curing, we got graphite/geopolymer composites with graphite to geopolymer ratio from 0 to 18 and part the samples were further dealt with heat treatment at 600 °C. Effects of the graphite content on the mechanical properties and microwave absorption properties of the composites were systematically investigated. The results proved that when graphite to geopolymer ratio is not higher than 12, graphite dispersed homogeneously in the composites. However, graphite agglomeration was noted when graphite to geopolymer ratios are 15 and 18. With the increase in graphite to geopolymer ratio, flexural strength and fracture toughness of the composites first increased, reaching the peak value and then decreased. When the graphite to geopolymer ratio is 12, the composite showed the highest flexural strength and fracture toughness, which should be explained by the mixing rule of composites since the mechanical properties of graphite are much higher than geopolymer matrix. With the increase in graphite content, the dielectric constants of the composite increased gradually, but the magnetic constants nearly kept unchanged. It implied that the main microwave absorbing mechanism would be dielectric loss of the composites. The maximum wave reflection loss showed similar trend to the mechanical properties of composites. It reached the peak value when graphite to geopolymer ratio is 12 and then started to decline, which might also be related to the graphite agglomeration. After 600 °C heat treatment, slight decline of the reflect loss peak and obvious decrease on the thickness corresponding to the maximum reflection loss were observed.