Investigation of Natural Fiber Composite in EMI Shielding under the Influence of Hematite and Rice Husk Ash Filler

The increased use of electronic systems has become a severe concern for electromagnetic pollution, leading to the development of materials to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI). The present study investigated the EMI-shielding effectiveness (EMI-SE) of flax fiber polymer composite (FFC) in the available free space method by varying the wt.% of Rice husk ash (RHA) and hematite. The flax fiber was coated with the dip coating technique, and the coated fibers were used for preparing FFC by hand layup. The EMI-SE was measured at 32-33.5 dB in the X-band frequency range (8-12 GHz). As the cost is low and can be mass-produced, results show that the developed FFC are suitable for electric vehicle applications specifically to shield Electronic control units (ECU), where the interference effect needs to be reduced.