The electromagnetic shielding and reflective properties of electromagnetic textiles with pores, planar periodic units and space structures

Abstract

Examples are presented of three new methods for preparing electromagnetic (EM) textiles for a variety of applications. These are metalized textiles containing pores and meshes, textiles with planar periodic structures, and space-structured textiles. Firstly, an aluminum foil model with pores was prepared, then metalized textiles with pores, and finally silver-coated nylon net fabrics, and the relationship between shielding effectiveness (SE) and pore structure was studied. The size of the pores and the distance between them obviously influence the SE, and in particular the pores on the metalized fabrics decrease the SE. Secondly, the factors affecting the frequency selective surface (FSS) of the metal were analyzed and a FSS textile was prepared as a band-pass filter. The FSS fabric with non-conductive periodic units on the conductive fabric surface showed good resonance peaks. Finally, three types of space-structured EM textiles, including a plush fabric, a warp-knitted spacer fabric, and a velvet fabric were constructed using different conductive yarn blends. The EM reflection coefficient curves showed that these structures also obviously affected the EM properties. The three types of new EM fabrics were soft and light compared with traditional metallic EM devices. There is still, however, a long way to go to establish the exact relationship between the structure and EM properties of these new EM textiles.