Manufacturing, modeling, and optimization of nickel-coated carbon fabric for highly efficient EMI shielding

In the current study, some important parameters for nickel deposition of the carbon fabric surface were analyzed and optimized. The Box-Behnken approach was applied to conduct the nickel electroplating process. The influence of current density, temperature, and time on the weight gain and electrical conductivity of nickel-coated carbon fabric has been investigated. The Box-Behnken model confirmed that the temperature of the electro-plating bath has no significant effects on the weight gain, and the applied current density and time only control the weight of the samples. The special effects of the current density and time are higher than that of temperature on the electrical conductivity. As for surface morphology results, the smooth and micro-cone shapes were formed with lower and higher values of electroplating parameters, respectively. The optimization results showed that the most optimal weight gain and electrical conductivity were to be 38 wt% and 585 S/cm, respectively, and achieved at the electrical current density of 2.5 A/dm(2), the electroplating temperature of 25 degrees C and time of 20 min. The shielding efficiency (SE) of optimized nickel-coated carbon fabric increased up to 63.71 dB. The results indicated that the Box-Behnken design is an appropriate approach for the development of the nickel-coated carbon fabric for lightweight and high performance shielding materials.

Automated summary

The current study analyzed and optimized important parameters for nickel deposition on carbon fabric using the Box-Behnken approach. The optimized results showed the most optimal weight gain, electrical conductivity, and shielding efficiency. The findings suggest that the Box-Behnken design is suitable for developing lightweight and high-performance shielding materials using nickel-coated carbon fabric.