Recycled carbon fibre reinforced polymer composite for electromagnetic interference shielding

This paper describes the development of an electromagnetic interference shielding material using recycled carbon fibre. Fibre recycled from a fluidised bed process was transformed into a non-woven veil and was moulded into a glass-fibre reinforced polymer plaque to provide shielding. Factors affecting shielding performance were established using a virgin fibre and the result was compared with veil made of the recycled fibre. Shielding performance increased with veil areal densities. The influence of fibre length on shielding seemed insignificant provided the fibre was distributed evenly. Sandwiching the plaque between fibre veils enhanced the shielding performance. A shielding value of 40 dB was attained from a layer of 80 g/m2 recycled fibre veil and it was increased to 70 dB when the plaque was sandwiched between two layers of 30 g/m2 recycled fibre veil. The correlation between veil formation and shielding effectiveness was established and found that shielding effectiveness increased with the degree of fibre dispersion.