Properties of metal fibre filled thermoplastics as candidates for electromagnetic interference shielding

Polypropylene (PP) based conductive composites were produced using stainless steel fibres (SSF) as the fillers. Their mechanical properties, electrical conductivity and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness were measured. For the purposes of performance optimization, polypropylene grafted maleic anhydride copolymer (PP-g-MAH) was added. The results indicate that when PP was replaced by PP-g-MAH, the mechanical properties of the composites can be improved, but the conductivity decreased remarkably. However, a positive synergistic effect was found in the case of SSF/PP-g-MAH/PP, which was characterized by acceptable strength and modulus as well as by an EMI attenuation ability of 30dB.