Technical Feasibility of a Thermally Activated Nanotape for Electromagnetic Interference Applications

Abstract

Multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) nanopaper (NP)-reinforced in-mold coating (IMC) nanocomposites were fabricated by dip soaking without organic solvent. The thermally activated IMC resin was selected to provide electromagnetic interference shielding protection for sheet molding compound (SMC) material as well as other plastic materials due to the proven good adhesion of IMC resin to the substrate. In this work, the technical feasibility of a continuous fabrication process was evaluated for a nanopaper/IMC (NP/IMC) composite. The curing behavior of the candidate IMC resin was studied for a better understanding of the fabrication of NP/IMC nanotape as a prepreg (with 10% polymerization), as well as the final curing once the nanotape was applied to the substrate. The required limiting maximum temperature to prevent curing during infiltration was established. This allows the fabrication of multilayer nanotape or coatings by stacking several layers of tape to improve the EMI shielding protection. To be specific, the average EMI shielding effectiveness for a one-layer composite was 21 dB, while it increased to 48 dB on average for a six-layer composite.