Investigation of EMI and UV-IR shielding properties of Kevlar and polyester/elastane nanocomposite fabrics coated by ECR and evaporation methods

Abstract

In this study, it is aimed to investigate Electromagnetic Shielding Interference (EMI) and Ultraviolet-Infrared (UV-IR) shielding behavior of nanocomposite textile fabrics produced by using Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) and Thermal Evaporation methods together. For this purpose, Kevlar and polyester/elastane (PES/EL) fabric samples are coated with carbon, graphite, ZnO, and indium in different compositions and structures. Then, EMI shielding and UV-IR absorption performance of the samples are measured and analyzed. As a result, multiple nano-transition layers having different refractive indices formed on the coated surfaces improve the EMSE and UV-IR shielding performance. It is concluded that the carbon + graphite + ZnO coated Kevlar samples provides best EMI shielding performance. The highest EMSE values greater than 80 dB are obtained at six frequencies in the 15–60 GHz range. It is observed that the best coating quality is also produced on the same fabric sample. It is also found that the EMI shielding performance of Carbon coated Kevlar sample is significantly higher than the Carbon coated PES/EL sample. The UV-IR analysis shows that the carbon or/and ZnO coating on Kevlar fabric and the indium coating on PES/EL fabric have significant effect to improve UV/IR shielding properties. The carbon coated Kevlar fabric increases the absorption efficiency by 11.11% and the carbon + graphite + ZnO coated sample by 13.45% compared to the uncoated fabric. For the PES/EL samples, the carbon coating increases the absorption efficiency by 2.3% and the In coating by 12.6% compared to the uncoated fabric. Consequently, the carbon + graphite + ZnO nanocomposite coated Kevlar fabric (∼ 3.5 a.u.) has consistently and significantly higher absorption performance than the In coated PES/EL fabric (∼ 3.0 a.u.) in the 400–1200 nm. So, it has been concluded that the specific structure of the fabric to be coated is as effective as coating material.

Keywords:

• ECR plasma
• Kevlar
• nanocomposite
• physical vapour decomposition
• polyester
• shielding

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Department of Scientific Research Projects of Çukurova University (Project No: FBA-2020-13148).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.