New material will protect against electromagnetic radiation
Protection of a person from electromagnetic radiation is a necessary and important condition for modern life. One of the methods of protection is the use of radio-absorbing building materials. It is this material that was developed within the framework of Project 5-100 and patented by scientists of the SPbPU Civil Engineering Institute. This was reported by a press release at the disposal of the editors.
Artemy Cherkashin, postgraduate student of the Department of Construction of Unique Buildings and Structures, ISI SPbPU, has proposed a unique “recipe” for a composite building material with radio-absorbing properties. Moreover, the degree of radio absorption can be adjusted depending on the specified conditions.
The material was obtained from a binder based on cement-carbon materials, mixing water and a functional filler. As a cement-carbon material, cement is used with carbon nanotubes and nanofibers attached to its surface. According to the developer, the technology of hardening with nanotubes is not new, but obtaining both a strong and radio-absorbing material was done for the first time.
“First of all, obtaining such material can be of interest to the military, for example, to hide strategic objects from various types of radars. However, it can also be used in industrial and civil construction, where a reduced level of radio waves at the site is recommended, ”says Artemy Cherkashin.
The degree of radio absorption in the developed material is regulated by the thickness of the coating, the concentration and the ratio of the filler to the binder. The thicker the coating, the more “invisible” the object becomes. A special feature of the developed building material is that it is based on cement, on which nanotubes have already been grown. This not only speeds up the procedure for combining cement and carbon nanofibers, but also significantly reduces the cost of the composite “cement-carbon nanotubes”.
The properties of the developed material were tested on special measuring devices at the OJSC “Plant Magneton”. The studies carried out confirmed the declared properties and proved the possibility of complete concealment of various objects (where necessary) with such material from the electromagnetic field.
However, the developers are not going to stop at this yet. “Further it is necessary to study the physical and mechanical properties, depending on the fillers used. The very presence of nanotubes on cement is good. But if there are too many of them, metallic properties appear, that is, the material begins to reflect waves, and we need to absorb them. Now we will study similar processes when adding various components, ”adds Artemy Cherkashin.
Thus, in the future, concrete manufacturers will be able to adapt their production and obtain a material with the required radio-absorbing properties already at the stage of cement production at the plant, without mixing various additives later. Nowadays, radio-absorbing building materials are obtained by a combination of special absorbing components and a binding matrix
. Source: indicator.ru