Highly Compressible Polymer Composite Foams with Thermal Heating-Boosted Electromagnetic Wave Absorption Abilities

Polymer composite foams are desirable materials for electromagnetic (EM) energy attenuation. However, a number of challenges limit improvement in the EM energy attenuation properties of foams. In this study, a simple microcellular injection molding method was used to fabricate highly compressible thermoplastic urethane (TPU)/carbon nanotube (CNTs) composite foams, which also had increased conductivity with an increase in CNT content. Compared to unfoamed composites, foamed composites exhibited higher conductivity and EM attenuation properties because of the presence of a microcellular structure. Moreover, the TPU/CNT foam with 4 wt % CNTs (F(4)) demonstrated strong EM dissipation and an optimal reflection loss (RL) value of −30.4 dB. Furthermore, stimulated by thermal heating and cyclic compression, EM attenuation was observed to increase because of the higher conductivity. Note that F(4) foam having a small thickness of 1.3 mm when treated at 333 K had the highest EM dissipation and the lowest RL value of −51.8 dB. Enhanced polarization and ohmic losses and multiscattering were responsible for the increased EM absorption. This behavior is attributed to the movement of CNTs within the TPU elastomer walls via thermal or compression stimulation. For designing stimulation-dependent multifunctional materials, composite foams with response to thermal heating were proved to be an alternative approach.