Hevea Brasiliensis-Based Lightweight Cement Brick: Development and Microwave Absorbing Properties

Services in telecommunications, particularly wireless communications, are in high demand as a result of the expansion of information technology through communication media. However, while this progress is good for the populace, it also exposes people to high levels of radio frequency radiation especially from the telecommunications tower that located close to residential which could be harmful to all human races. This study was demonstrated the effectiveness of Hevea Brasiliensis-based biomass as absorbing material in cement brick to eliminate radio frequency or more specifically microwave radiation. The absorption performance of anti-microwave Hevea Brasiliensis-based Non-autoclaved Aerated Cement (NAAC) brick was compared to commercial cement bricks in the frequency range of 1–12 GHz using the free-space arch reflectivity measurement method. Hevea Brasiliensis-based NAAC brick which uses carbon powder sawdust has the highest absorption performance compared to commercial cement brick in which show that it has potential as an anti-microwave material that can reach maximum absorption peak −52.56 dB while for the commercial brick was only reaches maximum absorption peak at −12.74 dB. In overall, Hevea Brasiliensis-based NAAC brick performed up to −10 dB of absorption while the absorption for commercial brick were below −10 dB.