Electromagnetic pulse shielding effectiveness of nickel-plated carbon fiber composites

In this paper, carbon fibers were plated with the chemical nickel plating method. The microstructure of the nickel-plated carbon fibers, the nickel layer composition and its structures were studied by the scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques. The conductivities of the nickel-plated carbon fibers and its composites were tested with broadband resistance voltage instrument. The high power microwave(HPM) shielding effectiveness of the composites were also measured with 1.3 GHz, 2.8 GHz, 4.3 GHz, 9.4 GHz at the electric field intensity equal or greater than 20 kV/m. The results reveal that the HPM shielding effectiveness of the nickel-plated carbon fiber composites is more than 60 dB, and the maximum value is 91 dB with 2.8 GHz.