Preparation of beaded chains ZrC/C/SiC nanocomposites and their microwave absorption properties

•The beaded chains nanostructures can effectively improve the microwave absorbing properties.•The dielectric loss could be controlled by designing heating process.•Schematic diagram of microwave absorption show the influence of the composites. Designing heating process to obtain beaded chains nanostructures was an effective way to improve electromagnetic wave absorbing properties of SiC. In this work, the beaded chains SiC nanocomposites deposited carbon coating contained homogeneously-distributed ZrC nanoparticles. The dielectric loss of the beaded chains ZrC/C/SiC nanocomposites were investigated in a frequency of 2.0–18.0 GHz, which was increased by about 10 times than the nanowires, reaching 0.41, and the maximum value is 0.66. It was observed that the heterogeneous interface between C, ZrC and SiC, carbon defects and beaded chains nanostructures could effectively enhance the microwave absorption properties of the nanocomposites.