The paper proposes the analytic modelling of flexible textile shields made of fabrics with inserted conductive yarns and metallic plasma coating in order to calculate their electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (EMSE). This manufacturing process is highly innovative, since copper plasma coating improves EMSE on the fabrics with inserted conductive yarns of stainless steel and silver with 10–15 dB in the frequency range of 0.1–1000 MHz, as shown by the measured EMSE values determined according to the standard ASTM ES-07 via the Transverse Electromagnetic (TEM) cell. On the other hand, modelling of EMSE for such conductive flexible shields gives an insight on estimating EMSE in the design phase of manufacturing the shield, based on its geometric and electrical parameters. An analytic model was proposed based on the sum of EMSE of the fabric with inserted conductive yarns and EMSE of the copper coating. The measurement results show close values to the proposed analytic model, especially in case of fabric with conductive yarns having stainless steel content.
Electromagnetic shielding is needed to protect human beings from undesired non-ionizing radiation and to protect electronic equipment from EM interferences. Shielding solution of Electromagnetic Compatibility domain is tackled nowadays by modern manufacturing methods of flexible textile fabrics with electrically conductive properties. Our research focuses on the additional electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (EMSE) rendered by plasma coating of flexible woven fabrics with inserted conductive yarns. EMSE was computed for an experimental plan formed of plasma coating with Copper and Stainless steel with thicknesses of 400 nm and 1200 nm on both sides of woven fabrics with inserted conductive yarns of stainless steel and silver. An additional EMSE of 5-20 dB on the frequency range of 0.1-1000 MHz was achieved by plasma coating. This proves the enhancement of the shielding properties by magnetron plasma coating, without altering the bulk properties of textile fabrics, such as flexibility and mechanical resistance. The paper presents EMSE results in relation to fabric structure, raw metallic materials and frequency of the incident electromagnetic field.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies represent the scientific approach for elaborating modern policies and supporting management decisions in the field of Sustainable Production and Consumption. The goal of many LCA studies undertaken for research are related to an exhaustive comparison of a modern, innovative product or process with respect to an initial, conventional one. This paper deals with such an approach for fabric based electromagnetic shielding. Electrically conductive textile fabrics are used in applications of electromagnetic shielding. Two basic types of technology for imparting electro- conductive properties to textiles are available, namely: insertion of conductive yarns in the fabric structure and coating with conductive layers. Magnetron plasma coating is a modern technology for achieving thin metallic layers on fabrics. Therefore, we focused the LCA study to the comparison between cotton woven fabrics with inserted conductive yarns out of stainless steel in warp and weft direction and cotton fabrics coated with thin layers of copper by magnetron plasma laboratory equipment. Functional unit of the comparative study was one square meter of EM textile shield with 5.2 dB at 1 GHz. A modelling of the fabric with inserted conductive yarns was performed in order to reach same shielding effectiveness at a certain frequency, as in the case of the coated fabric. Inventory data was collected for the fabric with conductive yarns from the textile company SC Majutex SRL, while for the plasma coated fabric from INFLPR. Impact assessment was performed by INCDTP, by using the LCA software SimaPro7 and the data basis EcoInvent 3.0. Interpretation of results shows that weaving of conductive yarns has a smaller impact on the environment than magnetron plasma coating using laboratory equipment, in a ratio of 1:2. This fact is explained by the industrial process of weaving as compared to laboratory process of coating, whereas brings the idea that upon utilization of industrial magnetron equipment for coating one may achieve in the end better environmental impact due to the process optimization for large area plasma processing.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.