HUA Mengting, WAN Feng

(Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan 411100, Hunan, China)

Extended Abstract:[Significance] Stealth materials are important in modern military technology, with wide range of applications. By reducing the detection signal of the target in visible, infrared and radar bands, the stealth materials significantly improve the survivability, penetration and combat effectiveness of the combat platform. Their application in defense field is the most extensive, covering air, ground and sea combat platforms, such as stealth combat, stealth ships and so on. In the aerospace field, stealth materials are used for satellites and spacecraft to reduce the probability of detection by ground radar and improve in-orbit survivability. Their application in the civil field is also gradually expanding, in the form of stealth coatings in automobiles to reduce radar wave reflection and improve the safety of autonomous vehicles. The use of visible light stealth materials in outdoor equipment to achieve environmental fusion. Radar stealth is to reduce the cross-sectional area of radar scattering, so to minimize the visibility of fighters, ships and missiles are difficult to be detected. Infrared stealth is to reduce the thermal signature of the target to avoid detection by infrared detectors or thermal imaging equipment. Visible light stealth is through camouflage and dynamic adjustment of color, so that the target is integrated with the surrounding environment, to avoid being detected by the naked eye or optical equipment. However, with the continuous progress of detection technology, traditional stealth materials encountered difficulty in meeting the needs of complex and changeable battlefield environment. Therefore, this paper is aimed to overview the stealth materials in the visible light, infrared and radar technology fields. It is found that intelligent stealth materials can be used to realize autonomous sensing and control signals, thus providing great convenience for stealth. The research and application of traditional intelligence stealth materials have become the focus of the development of stealth technology.[Progress] Firstly, the traditional stealth materials of visible light, infrared and radar are introduced in detail, with the characteristics of the traditional stealth materials to be summarized. With the rapid development of materials science, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and others, remarkable research progress has been made in intelligent stealth materials. In the field of visible light intelligent stealth, electrochromic materials and photochromic materials have been developed. The color and optical properties of the materials could be varied by applying electric field or changing temperature to realize dynamic stealth. Biomimetic intelligent materials mimic the camouflage of animals in nature. In the field of infrared intelligent stealth materials, thermal control materials, low emissivity materials and adaptive infrared camouflage are discussed. Nanostructures have special infrared characteristics to regulate infrared radiation. Metamaterials are materials designed with special properties such as negative refractive index that control the propagation path of infrared radiation. In the field of radar smart stealth materials, metamaterials, smart absorbing materials and reconfigurable stealth materials are overviewed. They have the characteristics of adaptive adjustment and wide-band absorption. Their electromagnetic parameters, such as dielectric constant and permeability, could be adjusted, according to the external electromagnetic environment to optimize the stealth effect. With the intelligent stealth materials in the above three fields, multi-band compatibility, intelligent regulation and lightweight flexible technology breakthroughs could be achieved. Combined with artificial intelligence, the Internet of things and quantum technology, the autonomous perception and regulation capabilities of stealth materials could be further enhanced.

[Conclusions and Prospects] The development of visible light, infrared and radar stealth materials with intelligence was reviewed in this paper. In the future, with the breakthrough of multi-band compatibility, intelligent regulation and lightweight technology, intelligent stealth materials will play a more important role in the defense and civilian fields and become an important driving force for scientific and technological development.

Key words: radar stealth; Infrared stealth; visible light invisibility; autonomous perception; intelligent stealth technology