Study on fabrication of nano copper by thermal plasma and their applications in thermal camouflage
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54939/1859-1043.j.mst.IMBE.2025.63-69Keywords:
Thermal camouflage applications; Reduce thermal emission; Coating metal nanoparticles; Nanoparticle Cu.Abstract
In this study, we investigated the process of coating mica substrates with a layer of copper (Cu) metal nanoparticles to enhance thermal camouflage by reducing thermal emission. The Cu nanoparticles were fabricated using the Plasma Temperature method, achieving an average size of approximately 100 ÷ 200 nm. The structure, morphology, composition, and properties of Cu nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). The infrared emission characteristics after coating Cu metal nanoparticles on mica substrates were measured by an SR5000N spectrophotometer, an SR800N-7° absolute blackbody, and a Flir Armasight thermal imaging camera. The results indicated that the material samples containing 10% Cu and 50% Cu had noticeably lower emission intensities compared with the other samples, especially in the long-wavelength region. This was applied to the Cu nano-coating work, which reduced the thermal emission of mica. This result demonstrated the ability of the nano-metallic material to modulate the surface emission rate, thereby reducing the detectability of the object by thermal imaging devices for camouflage applications.
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