Morphology and Electromagnetic Shielding Effectiveness of PP Nonwovens Modified with Metallic Layers

Polypropylene (PP) nonwoven was used as a substrate for CuSn and CuZnNi deposited layers. Nonwoven metallization was carried out using the DC magnetron sputtering process at various process parameters (e.g. effective power dissipated in the target, velocity of the substrate drift, number of cycles). The studies aimed at defining the surface morphol ogy of PP nonwoven modified by metallic deposition, the crystallographic structure of the thin metallic layers and the effect of the layers’ crystallinity on the electromagnetic (EM) shielding effectiveness of the two-component metal/PP composites. The morphology studies were covered by scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore the crystalline character of components CuSn and CuZnNi was examined in grazing-incidence angle X-ray diffraction experiments. It was found that CuSn/PP composites with a crystalline structure of the metallic layer exhibit the highest values of shielding effectiveness (44-45 dB at 27,12 MHz and 38-39 dB at 1795 MHz).