Smart Conductive Cotton Fabric by Macro-Structured Carbon Clusters for Electromagnetic Interference Shielding

摘要

Exclusive macro-structured carbon clusters are used to develop conductive cotton fabric for electromagnetic interference shielding applications. Rubber grade carbon particles are stabilized into the clustered composite form using natural rubber latex, polyvinyl alcohol, and others additives. The knife-over-roll coating technique is used to apply conductive composite on the surface of the plain woven cotton fabric. The surface morphology of the coated fabric is characterized by FESEM, AFM & HRTEM. The tomography of the composite is investigated by the micro-CT scanning. The two-dimensional topography reveals that an individual and the aggregates of 2-9 carbon black particles are stabilized by the blended matrix to form the macro-structured carbon clusters. The electrical properties of the composites and their effectiveness as the electromagnetic interference (EMI~2) shielding are studied in details. It is found that the fabric can shield EMI predominantly by absorption mechanism instead of reflection. The EMI shielding effectiveness of the coated fabric is estimated using S-parameters of a Vector Network Analyzer. The EMI shielding effectiveness of the fabric is observed to be proportionally increased with increasing carbon black loading in the composite as well as the thickness of the coated fabric in action.