In-situ Growing Carbon Nanotubes on Nickel Modified Glass Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites for EMI Application

Abstract

Glass fiber (GF) reinforced polymer composites have attracted increasing attention due to their excellent performance. In this study, GF was coated by a thin layer of nickel, and then grafted carbon nanotubes (CNTs) array by a chemical vapor deposition method (CVD). The CNT contents can be varied by changing the CVD conditions. Three types of fillers, nickel coated GF (GF@Ni), GF with CVD grown CNTs (GF-CNTs) and nickel-coated GF with CVD grown CNTs (GF@Ni-CNTs), were used to prepare the epoxy composites. The electromagnetic interference shielding performances were investigated as a function of CNT contents. The GF@Ni-CNTs reinforced epoxy composites, which had the CNTs mass ratio of 9.2 wt% to the hybrids, showed the best EMI shielding performance among the composites. Their total EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) was higher than 35 dB in the range of 1–18 GHz, and above 50 dB in the X band. By incorporating the nickel layer on the GF surface, the same EMI performance can be achieved with lower CNTs content. For achieving a SE value of 35 dB in the X band, it needed GF@Ni-CNTs/epoxy with CNTs mass ratio of 3.8 wt% to the hybrids, instead of GF-CNTs/epoxy composites with CNTs mass ratio of 5.2 wt% to the hybrids.