Functionalization of Fiber-Reinforced Thermoplastics for EMF-Shielding Applications

With an increasing demand for lower fuel consumption of different means of transportation, the demand for lightweight construction materials is rising. In this frame, usually metallic parts can be replaced by components consisting of fiber-reinforced plastics. On the other hand, the components lose their electromagnetic field (EMF) shielding properties, which are required for many applications such as housings for electrical components. This issue can be solved by applying electrically conductive foils or meshes, often by a manual process that increases the time of production and process. In this publication, the application and parameter influence of thermally sprayed electrically conductive coatings for EMF-shielding applications is discussed. Laser structuring is used as a novel surface preparation process, for the subsequent thermal spray process. The influence of the used laser-parameters is discussed accordingly. The coatings are applied by the wire-arc spray with Zinc feedstock as well as the atmospheric plasma spray (APS) process with Copper feedstock. It was found that coating properties such as adhesion strength, EMF-shield strength as well as electrical properties are provided by the proposed technology.