Vanadium dioxide/aluminum composites for adaptive infrared stealth

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is assumed as a promising dynamic infrared stealth material owing to its tunable emissivity. However, the relatively high emissivity associated with VO2-based adaptive infrared stealth materials poses a constraint on their practical applications. To address this issue, this study proposed a VO2/Al composite endowed with a smart infrared stealth function. With 50% VO2, the composite achieved a low emissivity value of 0.54 at 30 °C, while it exhibited a reversible variation to 0.43 at 100 °C, demonstrating a change up to 0.11. When the temperature of the sample remained at 100 °C, the surface temperature detected by an infrared camera was only 53.4 °C, indicating a promising infrared stealth performance. Meanwhile, the metal-insulator transition (MIT) effect and thermal insulation performance were investigated under the framework of the composition effect of composite materials. The design strategy of this metal composite material paves the way for novel approaches in designing dynamic infrared stealth materials with low emissivity.