Signature materials 2023-2025 – Final Report

Authors:

  • Stefan Karlsson
  • Peter Rejmstad
  • Eveline Örtenberg
  • Mathias Forsberg
  • Jennifer Silander
  • Jhanzaib Humayun
  • Kristos Nyman
  • Linnea Serrander
  • Martin Forsgren
  • Antonia Tengbom
  • Åsa Andersson
  • Hans Kariis
  • Jan Fagerström
  • Tomas Hallberg
  • Christina Åkerlind

Publish date: 2026-02-02

Report number: FOI-R--5802--SE

Pages: 45

Written in: Swedish

Keywords:

  • Signature materials
  • Signature adaptation
  • Camouflage
  • Radar absorbing materials
  • Materials technology
  • Multispectral
  • Low emissivity materials
  • Passive cooling
  • 2D materials
  • Polarization
  • Optical antennas
  • Machine learning
  • Military utility
  • Measurement technology

Abstract

The report summarizes the activities within the project Signature Materials that have been ongoing during the period 2023-2025. Signature Materials is an FoT project with the purpose to build competence by studying new materials with the potential to be used for defense applications in signature adaptation and follow relevant materials research. The work has been conducted partly through own experimental studies of materials but also through international collaborations, conference participation and in collaboration with universities and industry. The target group of the report is primarily the Swedish Armed Forces but also other potential stakeholders. The report is aimed at those who are interested in signature materials for all types of defense applications. Advanced sensor technology today provides good opportunities for discovery and therefore the development of signature adaptation also needs to develop in step with modern sensor technology. How materials are perceived in contrast to their background is one of the main tasks. This has been studied in several different wavelength ranges to gain an understanding of signature materials multispectral behaviors. The materials studied are selected based on own knowledge, but new materials have also been investigated to find out their relevance within signature materials. Today and even more so in the future, there is a need to design signature materials to adapt to multispectral signatures. Conclusions from the period 2023-2025 are that materials science in general should be followed, as research funding is now also being invested in materials for military applications. In addition, it is important to be able to assess and verify material properties in order to assess whether materials are suitable as signature materials. Recommendations for the future are to investigate whether it is possible to weigh together simple measures through measurement/calculation/simulation, with the aim of comparing different signature materials for different applications. FoT Signature Materials intends to work further on the issues and primarily build competence modelling and simulation of material properties and parameters for signature adaptation. Through management of commitments in collaborations and in collaboration with other FoT projects, FOI also intends to conduct activities in measurement methodology, additive manufacturing of signature materials, biodegradable materials for dummy targets and adaptable signature materials.