Nano silver conductive composite material for electromagnetic compatibility

In this research work, copper wires with 0.0564 mm, 0.0502 mm, and 0.0447 mm diameters were selected as a conductive filler of core material for producing various resultant count of copper core yarn with cotton fibers and polyester fibers as sheath material. The copper core yarns with a resultant count of 118 Tex, 98 Tex, and 84 Tex were produced by G5/1 ring spinning machine with the core attachment device. From the produced copper core yarn different types of fabrics were produced by using a weaving machine. In order to improve the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of copper core yarn woven fabrics, nano silver finishing was given. The copper core fabrics were treated by nano silver particles with various levels of nano silver concentration, ethanol, time, and copper wire diameter using Taguchi design experiments. The morphology structure, bonding nature, and size of silver nanoparticle treated copper core cotton and polyester fabrics were studied by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy analyzer and X-ray diffraction. The effect of antibacterial properties of silver nano treated copper core cotton and polyester fabrics were also analyzed. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopic studies have confirmed the crystalline structure of silver nanoparticle over surface of copper core cotton and polyester fabrics. Scanning electron microscopic and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopic studies revealed that the silver nanoparticles were formed and dispersed with spherical shape of about 30 to 50 nm. On increasing the nano silver concentration an increase in nano silver deposition and electromagnetic shielding has been observed in 500–12,000 MHz frequency range. The electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of nano silver finished fabrics were improved by 20–55% to that of the untreated copper core yarn fabrics.