Grant: Engage Grants Program

Electromagnetic shielding (EMS) is designed to limit the influence of electromagnetic fields and radiation on adevice or object. The process uses a barrier made from conductive material containing electric charges of eitherpositive or negative properties at the subatomic particle level. Usually, EMS encompasses a number ofdifferent aspects including radiated electromagnetic interference (EMI), conducted EMI, grounding,electrostatic discharge, and environmental effects; all of which contribute to the overall integrity of a system. Inthis project, shielding refers to the ability of a material to reduce the transmission of propagatingelectromagnetic (EM) fields; EMI tends to degrade the interception of signals thus affecting the performance ofthis equipment adversely. Even if traditionally, the EMS is based on the use of metals with well understoodEM properties, however, because of their propensity to cause leakage of radiation, which diminishes theirshielding effectiveness, metal sheets are being increasingly replaced by a variety of new materials. Among thelatter, composites based on polymers and conductive-fillers arise as highly promising EMS materials becauseof many considerations, such as light weight, high flexibility, corrosion resistance, cost effectiveness andrelative ease of processability and mass production. More specifically, recently, the use of carbon materials asfillers in polymer composites for EMI shielding has been advocated, as they can enhance the electrical andmechanical properties of these composites considerably. Because of their inherent extremely-high aspect ratio,the use of dispersed carbon nanotubes (CNTs), as conducting fillers, decreases much further the amount ofCNTs required to reach percolation. In addition to their high-aspect ratio and unique electrical properties,CNTs possess also highly attractive mechanical and thermal properties that make them an ideal nanofillercandidate for the development of high-strength and low-weight materials for EMS and/or electrostaticdissipation applications. Raymor Nanotech has recently developed an innovative synthesis process to producevery pure and highly graphitized single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with an almost perfect structure.