Electrical conductivity enhancement of hybrid PA6,6 composite containing multiwall carbon nanotube and carbon black for shielding effectiveness application in textiles

Abstract

Textiles have been highly considered in applications of electromagnetic shielding effectiveness. This is mainly due to an increasing concern of health issues caused by human exposure to radiation.In the present study, the main objective was to develop a monofilament yarn made of conductive polymer composite (CPC) for electromagnetic shielding application to decline the drawbacks of previous electromagnetic shielding textile products. Thus, CPCs were produced by melt mixing method, using Polyamide 6,6 (PA6,6) as matrix and carbon black (CB) or/and multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) as conductive nanofillers and the synergy effects of CB and MWCNT on electrical conductivity was studied. Consequently, 1.7 wt.% of MWCNT and 3.3 wt.% of CB (1MWCNT:2CB) was applied to generate a PA6,6-based composite at the critical percolation threshold while its electrical conductivity was higher than the PA6,6-based composite contained 20 wt.% of CB and the same as the one contained 3 wt.% of MWCNT.The developed monofilament is lightweight, corrosion resistant and the manufacturing process is very well established in comparison with metal yarns. These characteristics make it an alternative to produce electromagnetic shielding clothing for personal protection. Thus, the developed monofilament was woven to fabricate an electromagnetic shield fabric and the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness was evaluated in the frequency range 1–10 GHz.In brief, the electrical conductivity was improved using the synergism between nanofillers while the viscosity was in the standard range for monofilament making process by extrusion. Moreover, the shielding effectiveness (SE) of the woven sample made of the developed composite was promising for personal protection (16 dB).