A sheath-core shaped ZrO2-SiC/SiO2 fiber felt with continuously distributed SiC for broad-band electromagnetic absorption.

• A sheath-core shaped ZrO 2 -SiC/SiO 2 fiber felt with continuously distributed rod-like SiC was successfully constructed. • The continuous distribution of SiC absorber was designed and realized. • The maximum EAB of ZrO 2 -SiC/SiO 2 fiber felt reaches 5.52 GHz and the bandwidth with RL less than −8 dB attains 13.50 GHz. • The excellent performance is attributed to continuous distribution of absorber and the matched impedance. • The EM absorption mechanism was analyzed according to the characterization results. Silicon carbide (SiC), has been considered as one of the most suitable options for high-temperature electromagnetic absorption materials (EAMs), and it's still a challenge to achieve the broad-band absorption performance for SiC-based EAMs. In this work, according to the impedance matching principle, a kind of ZrO 2 -SiC/SiO 2 fiber felt was prepared by combining chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) and oxidation treatment. SiC, as the electromagnetic (EM) absorber, was deposited continuously along the EM transparent ZrO 2 fibers, and the SiO 2 covered on SiC surface in the oxidation process, forming the unique sheath-core structure. It can form a large amount of interfaces to enhance the polarization loss, leading to excellent EM absorption performance with the reflection loss (RL) smaller than −8 dB at 4.50–18 GHz. The exploration results provide design inspiration to SiC-based EAMs with wide bandwidth strong absorption performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]