Effect of Fabric Cover and Pore Area Distribution of Carbon/Stainless Steel/Polypropylene Hybrid Yarn-Woven Fabric on Electromagnetic Shielding Effectiveness

Abstract

The electromagnetic shielding behavior of fabrics woven with carbon/stainless steel/polypropylene (C/SS/PP) hybrid yarns were investigated in the frequency range of 300 kHz to 1.5 GHz. This study mainly emphasizes the electromagnetic shielding behavior of C/SS/PP hybrid yarn fabric and the effect of different fabric parameters such as pick density, fabric architecture and number of fabric layers on shielding effectiveness (SE) of fabrics with C/SS/PP hybrid yarns. The SE of fabric samples were tested by a vector network analyzer using a coaxial transmission line tester. In addition, surface images of different fabric structures were examined to appreciate the effect of yarn floats on the shielding behavior of fabrics. From the SE test, it was observed that an increase in pick density increases the SE of C/SS/PP hybrid yarn fabric due to addition of carbon and SS content in the fabric. Besides, the fabric cover and pore area distribution are also changed for varying pick densities. Essentially, a fabric’s architecture plays an important role in the fabric cover and pore area distribution. The one-end float (1/1 plain) fabric of 6.3 ppcm provides higher shielding of 88.44 dB than a 4-end (4/1 twill) or 7-end float (8-end satin) fabrics of 6.3 ppcm. Moreover, an increase in the number of fabric layers also improves the SE of fabrics. The developed C/SS/PP hybrid yarn fabric can be used for shielding wireless transmissions, radar transmissions and for shielding panels.