Fashion clothing with electromagnetic radiation protection: aesthetic properties and performance

At present, much attention is focused on developing clothing fabrics with advanced functionality without compromising their visual, mechanical, or comfort properties. A fabric’s ability to prevent the penetration of electromagnetic radiation is an interesting added feature. In the published literature, there are many references describing the development and investigation of electromagnetic shielding textile structures using different electrically conductive additives. However, little attention has been given to the aesthetic and comfort properties of these special fabrics. Moreover, the availability of everyday fashion containing electromagnetic radiation protection is very limited. For this study, woven fabric made from a mixture of traditional fibers and extremely thin discrete stainless steel fibers developed in the authors’ previous research was used as a substrate. The fabric was digitally printed to provide an interesting design effect suitable for use in clothing and for making clothes for everyday wear. The main objective of this work is to determine whether digital printing is a suitable tool for changing the color and pattern of this metal fiber-containing fabric. The individual goals are (a) to examine the fabric’s color fastness to washing and (b) to investigate whether the surface modification of the fabric adversely affects its functionality. Results show that it is possible to change the color and pattern of metal fiber-containing fabric by digital printing easily, whereas the associated decrease of porosity causes an increase of this special fabric functionality. The electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of the fabric after printing is around 33 dB for frequency 1.5 GHz. However, washing has a negative effect, causing both the electromagnetic shielding ability decrease (to 27 dB for frequency 1.5 GHz after 20 washing and drying cycles) and color fading (the color fastness grade is around 1–2 after 20 washing and drying cycles). Furthermore, the basic transport properties of printed electrically conductive fabric are compared with those of fabric made from traditional material and positive results are found. The incidence of pilling after washing is also evaluated, whereas the first pills are observed after the eighth washing and drying cycle. Finally, clothing prototypes that could be prepared from printed fabric are presented.