Lightweight carbon-red mud hybrid foam toward fire-resistant and efficient shield against electromagnetic interference

Lightweight, porous, high-performance electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and fire-resistant materials are highly demanded in aerospace and defense applications. Due to the lightweight, open porosity and high surface area, carbon foam has been considered as one of the most promising candidates for EMI shielding applications. In the present investigation, we demonstrate the development of novel carbon-red mud hybrid foams with excellent EMI shielding effectiveness (SE). The carbon-red mud hybrid foams are prepared using phenolic resin as a carbon source and red mud (industrial waste) as filler. We observed that the inclusion of red mud in carbon-red mud hybrid foams significantly enhances their dielectric, magnetic, EMI shielding and thermal properties. The EMI shielding results show that absorption is the main contributor to the total EMI SE. The maximum total EMI shielding effectiveness is achieved to be 51.4 dB in the frequency range of 8.2–12.4 GHz for carbon-red mud hybrid foam having 20 wt. % of red mud. The CF-RM20 also showed excellent fire resistance and high thermal stability at elevated temperatures.