Atomic composition, microstructure, and electromagnetic properties of schungite micropowder

The goal of the work was to study the microstructural, elemental, and electromagnetic properties of the samples of micropowder made from a natural mineral schungite. It was found that according to an X-ray spectral microanalysis, the carbon content in the studied samples of the mineral schungite was from 44 to 54 wt% while the iron content did not exceed 3.9 wt%. The iron content increased up to 6.1 wt% in the produced schungite micropowder. It can be presumed that in the schungite, micropowder iron exists in the form of ferrimagnetic nanoparticles of magnetite and pyrite, which is formed when grinding schungite particles in ball mills with a steel body and a milling bowl. The produced schungite micropowder also showed the presence of weak ferrimagnetic properties according to the measurements of magnetic permeability performed by vector analysis of the impedance of electrical circuits. In accordance with its electromagnetic characteristics, schungite micropowder made from shungite mineral is an effective radio-absorbing filler for building materials for cellular communication frequency bands