Influence of woven fabric construction parameters on electromagnetic shielding effectiveness: Part I – weave influence

Abstract

The development of textiles with the ability to shield an electromagnetic field is still of great interest, and the influences of the construction parameters of woven fabric (weave, input fibrous material composition, three-dimensional (3D) construction) on the resulting electromagnetic shielding efficiency have still not been sufficiently investigated. The main goal of this study is therefore to analyze the weaves of special electrically conductive woven fabrics and evaluate their impact on electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (SE) using statistical methods. Here, the interlacing structure cells of woven fabric are newly used to describe the weave. The results confirmed that the proposed theory of the interlacing of woven fabric is satisfactory for evaluating and, especially, for prediction of the SE of electromagnetic shielding woven fabrics. For this study, the input yarn (made from a mixture of traditional and extremely thin discrete stainless steel fibers) is used for the production of 21 types of dobby woven fabrics with different weaves and its SE was analyzed using the coaxial transmission-line technique. This contribution can be used as theoretical guidance for the construction, design, and production of special woven fabrics (dobby and jacquard pattern) with controlled SE.