FeSiAl/metal core shell hybrid composite with high-performance electromagnetic interference shielding

Herein, for the first time, FeSiAl (sendust)/metal hybrid materials were synthesized with a magnetic core and a highly electrically conductive metal shell for shielding electromagnetic interference (EMI) pollution. Soft magnetic sendust flakes were electroless-plated with electrically conductive Ag or Ni metal to form Ag-plated and Ni-plated sendust core-shell hybrids. The magnetic and metal hybrid-incorporated paraffin wax composites exhibited a better absorption-dominant EMI shielding performance of 65.6 dB and 58.5 dB, respectively, than that of the sendust wax composite and the composite with a mixture of sendust and electrically conductive Ag/Cu dendrite. The superior shielding performance was attributed to the synergistic combination of the effective magnetic loss, dielectric loss, and conduction loss. These exceptional properties of the new hybrid composite showed that it could be used in absorption-dominant EMI shielding applications.