Evaluation of electromagnetic shielding properties of high-performance continuous carbon fiber composites fabricated by robotic 3D printing

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Fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing can manufacture parts from high-performance continuous carbon fiber composites. In this paper, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness (SE) of specimens made by robotic 3D printing from low-melt polyaryletherketone (LM PAEK) with continuous carbon fiber (CCF) is investigated. First, a 4-port performance network analyzer with a W R -90 waveguide is used to measure SE in the X-band frequency range (8.2 – 12.4 GHz). Then, unidirectional LM PAEK-CCF specimens with a varying number of layers and fiber orientation are 3D printed. It is found that SE has a linear relation with the number of layers showing maximum total shielding effectiveness (SE t ) of 52.11 dB. Furthermore, as the angle between the electric field and the fibers reduces, there is an increase in the normalized SE t with respect to thickness with a maximum of 158.4 dB/mm, which is higher than previous values reported in the literature. In addition, pure LM PAEK (AM™ 200) and LM PAEK-CCF specimens are compared, and it is found that CCF reinforcements reduce the resistivity and increase the SE t of pure LM PAEK by 46 and 38 folds, respectively. • Continuous carbon fiber (CCF) composites were fabricated using robotic 3D printing. • Fiber orientation and number of layers were varied • A maximum of 158.4 dB/mm was achieved, higher than the results in the literature • CCF reduces resistivity and increases shielding effectiveness by 46 and 38 folds.