Synergistic effect of carbon fabric metastructure and magnetic layers in a composite for electromagnetic radiation shielding

Abstract

Abstract The widespread use of high-frequency electromagnetic radiation (EMR) in communication, defense, medical, and household technologies raises health and safety concerns, underscoring the demand for efficient shielding and absorption materials. This work presents flexible protective composites based on conductive carbon fabric coated with thin magnetic polymer films. Several multilayer configurations were prepared and characterized, consisting of carbon fabric coated with epoxy polymer layers containing Ni or Fe $$_2$$ O $$_3$$ fillers. The shielding performance, primarily governed by the fabric’s regular metastructure, exhibits strong polarization dependence in the $$90-330$$ GHz range. The combined interaction of conductive carbon fabric and magneto-responsive polymer layers enhances absorption, induces multiple resonances, and broadens the effective shielding bandwidth, resulting in significantly reduced reflection across a wide spectral range.