Investigation of the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of carbon fiber composite fabrics in the frequency range of 30 mhz - 1500 mhz

With the developing material science, composite materials have been preferred instead of classical materials in many applications due to their advantages. Especially, in recent years carbon fiber composite fabrics, which are one of the most popular composites have wide usage area due to their mechanical and electrical qualities. Aviation, aerospace, defense and automotive industries are the leading sectors where carbon fiber composites are frequently used. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN), pitch and rayon are precursors that are used for synthesis of carbon fibers. In carbon fiber composite production, these precursors are performed a series of processing such as stabilization, carbonization and graphitization in different temperatures. Precursor type and processing temperature are important factors affecting the quality of carbon fibers. In this study, electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of carbon fiber composite fabrics has been investigated in the frequency range of 30 MHz - 1500 MHz by the coaxial measurement system that produced according to ASTM D4935-18 standard. The analyses of the measurement system have been made with both simulation studies and experimental measurements. According to the results of the analysis, it has been observed that the measurement system performs efficiently. Besides, the shielding effectiveness of five different carbon fiber composite samples have been evaluated in terms of woven type, laminate thickness and fiber orientation. As a result, the obtained findings showed that physical properties are able to change the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness.