Effect of carbon fiber reinforcement on the mechanical and electromagnetic shielding properties of the Fe₃O₄-carbonaceous/epoxy composites

The present work aimed at the simultaneous improvement in the mechanical and electromagnetic shielding properties of Fe3O4-carbonaceous/epoxy composites by the reinforcement of two plies of carbon fiber into the epoxy-filler matrix. In this study, Fe3O4-activated carbon and Fe3O4-activated charcoal composites were synthesized by co-precipitation method and were introduced into the epoxy matrix with different weight percentage (5, 10, and 15 wt%). The BET surface area analysis revealed the high porosity in the Fe3O4-activated charcoal composite than that of activated carbon composite. The Fe3O4-activated carbon/epoxy composite showed better mechanical properties than the later. Both the composites showed nearly same EMI SE value. 10 wt% of the filler-1/epoxy composite showed the highest shielding effectiveness (SE) value of -22.5 dB at 10 GHz whereas 15 wt% Fe3O4@charcoal/epoxy composite showed better SE value of -27.15 dB at 8.8 GHz. The obtained results were supported by the dielectric and magnetic loss tangent studies. The incorporation of carbon fiber enhanced the mechanical property by three times and the EMI SE value by similar to 15 dB. Thus, the carbon fiber reinforced Fe3O4/carbonaceous epoxy composites may be the potential electromagnetic shielding material for electronics and aircraft industries.