Aramid nanofiber-reinforced multilayer electromagnetic-interference (EMI) shielding composites with high interfacial durability

Abstract

Structural composites for electric vehicles should have lightweight, mechanically strong, efficient electromagnetic shielding. Although thermoplastic composite material plays a structural role and aluminum thin film (Al foil) plays the role of electromagnetic wave shielding, poor interfacial adhesion and tear resistance of Al foil need to be overcome. In this work, we demonstrated a novel, high-performance EMI-shielding multilayer structure based on an aluminum thin film (Al), glass fabric (GF), carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFT), and thermoplastic adhesive. In particular, the interfacial adhesion at the mechanically weak interface has been significantly improved by a factor of 1.15 via the application of an aramid nanofiber-embedded (ANF) thermoplastic interlayer. We found that the distribution and entanglement of aramid nanofibers in the ANF adhesive layer precisely determine the mechanical properties of the entire structural composite. Efficient EMI shielding performance (an average of 94 dB at 0.2- 1.0 GHz) of structural EMI shielding composites was possible using a uniform aramid nanofiber layer. (c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).