Can ESD-protective garments screen static electric fields?

In this paper we discuss the ability of screening a static electric field for an ESD-protective garment. A phenomenological model of the system is presented and calculations are compared with experimentally obtained values. Fabrics with the following different types of conductive threads are considered: core conducting (CC), surface conducting (SC) and hybrid conducting (HC) using carbon/graphite as conducting element. All the fabrics have similar base fabric and grid density of the conductive threads. The screening ability of these three fabrics is; CC 68%, SC 77% and HC 82%, when they are compared to a thin homogeneous conducting film.