The preparation of chemically reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and the optimization of epoxy resins’ properties using micro or nanofillers are now common practices. rGO nanoparticles (60 nm) based on an epoxy resin polymer were prepared at the concentrations of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5% weight percentage with fixed 6-mm thicknesses. The dielectric properties of the composites were measured by the reflection/transmission technique in connection with a vector network analyser (VNA) at a frequency range of 8–12 GHz. The microwave absorption and shielding effectiveness properties were calculated by using the reflection S11 and transmission S21 results. The microstructure and morphology of the polymer and the rGO/cured epoxy composites were studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and the X-ray Diffraction (X-RD) technique for characterizing crystalline materials. The dielectric and other properties of the rGO/cured epoxy composites were investigated based on the filler load and frequency. It was found that the applied frequency and the filler concentrations affected the dielectric properties of the rGO/cured epoxy composites. The results showed that the introduction of rGO particles to the composites increased their dielectric properties smoothly. The study of the dependence on frequency of both the dielectric constant ε′ and the dielectric loss ε″ showed a decrease in both quantities with increasing frequency, indicating a normal behaviour of the dielectrics. Cole–Cole plots were drawn with ε′ and ε″. A theoretical simulation in terms of the Cole–Cole dispersion law indicates that the Debye relaxation processes in the rGO/cured epoxy composites are improved due to the presence of the rGO filler. Moreover, with the addition of rGO as a filler into the Epoxy matrix, it now exhibits promise as a lightweight material for microwave absorption as well as an effective electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding material.
This paper presents the electromagnetic interference properties of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as a novel nano-reinforcement filler in poly (lactic acid) (PLA)/poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) polymer matrix that was prepared via melt blending mode. Plasticization of PLA was first carried out by PEG, which overcomes its brittleness problem, in order to enhance its flexibility. A waveguide adapter technique was used to measure the dielectric properties , and S-parameters reflection (S11) and transmission (S21) coefficients. The dielectric properties, microwave attenuation performances, and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (EMISE) for all the material under test have been calculated over the full X-Band (8–12 GHz) due to its importance for military and commercial applications. The prepared samples were studied while using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), mechanical properties measurements, as well as thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results showed that the dielectric properties increased with increased multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) filler, as well as the shielding effectiveness of the MWCNT/PLA/PEG nanocomposites increased with the increasing of MWCNTs. The highest SE total value was found to be 42.07 dB at 12 GHz for 4 wt.% filler content. It is also observed that the attenuation values of the nanocomposites increased with an increase in MWCNTs loading, as well as the power loss values for all of the samples increased with the increase in MWCNTs loading, except the amount of the transmitted wave through the nanocomposites.
In this study, a nanocomposite of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanofiller-reinforcement poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) matrix was prepared via the melt blending method. The flexibility of PLA was improved by blending the polymer with a PEG plasticizer as a second polymer. To enhance the electromagnetic interference shielding properties of the nanocomposite, different RGO wt % were combined with the PLA/PEG blend. Using Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and X-ray diffraction, the structural, microstructure, and morphological properties of the polymer and the RGO/PLA/PEG nanocomposites were examined. These studies showed that the RGO addition did not considerably affect the crystallinity of the resulting nanomaterials. Thermal analysis (TGA) reveals that the addition of RGO highly improved the thermal stability of PLA/PEG nanocomposites. The dielectric properties and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of the synthesized nanocomposites were calculated and showed a higher SE total value than the target value (20 dB). On the other hand, the results showed an increased power loss by increasing the frequency and conversely decreased with an increased percentage of filler.
Brain tumor detection at early stages can increase the chances of the patient’s recovery after treatment. In the last decade, we have noticed a substantial development in the medical imaging technologies, and they are now becoming an integral part in the diagnosis and treatment processes. In this study, we generalize the concept of entropy difference defined in terms of Marsaglia formula (usually used to describe two different figures, statues, etc.) by using the quantum calculus. Then we employ the result to extend the local binary patterns (LBP) to get the quantum entropy LBP (QELBP). The proposed study consists of two approaches of features extractions of MRI brain scans, namely, the QELBP and the deep learning DL features. The classification of MRI brain scan is improved by exploiting the excellent performance of the QELBP–DL feature extraction of the brain in MRI brain scans. The combining all of the extracted features increase the classification accuracy of long short-term memory network when using it as the brain tumor classifier. The maximum accuracy achieved for classifying a dataset comprising 154 MRI brain scan is 98.80%. The experimental results demonstrate that combining the extracted features improves the performance of MRI brain tumor classification.
The dielectric and magnetic behaviour and thermal properties of composites based on nickel–zinc ferrite (NZF) filler can be improved by the addition of various types of materials. Amongst others, ferrite–polymer composites have been subjected to a wide range of research, due to their extensive applications: electromagnetic interference shielding, microwave absorption, electrodes and sensors. Currently, the interest in scientific and technical searches for the potential outcomes of ferrite–polymer materials due to their different uses in applications such as telecommunication applications, microwave devices and electromagnetic interference shielding has been growing stronger. The dielectric and magnetic behaviour and thermal properties for such composite materials depend on size, shape and the amount of filler addition. Nickel–zinc ferrite material was prepared using the conventional solid-state reaction technique. This study highlights the development of microwave-absorbing material from NZF by adding natural fibres, Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) and polycaprolactone (PCL). OPEFB is considered in this study because it is a solid waste product of the oil palm milling process which is widely and cheaply available. The use of OPEFB in this product may save the environment from oil palm solid waste. A Thermal Hake blending machine was used in blending the powder structure of NZF + OPEFB + PCL, which made it homogeneous. These composites were characterized by the use of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thermal degradation behaviour of the composites was analyzed using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermogravimetric (DTG) thermograms. The effective permittivity and effective permeability was obtained over a broad frequency range from 8 to 12 GHz at room temperature. It was observed that the values of effective permittivity and permeability increased as the content of NZF content increased. A rectangular waveguide connected to a microwave vector network analyser (PNA) (HP/Agilent model PNA E8364B) was employed in measuring the reflection coefficient S11 and transmission coefficient S21 parameters of composites for different percentages of NZF filler. This parameter was then used in calculating the microwave absorbing properties (dB).