Flexible carbon black-coated fabrics for electromagnetic camouflage: Design and characterization

This work presents the design and evaluation of lightweight, textile-integrated coatings tailored to suppress radar signals for advanced camouflage and electromagnetic (EM) concealment. Two polyester warp-knitted mesh fabrics were functionalized with electrically conductive finishes that exhibit EM-camouflage behavior, and their attenuation performance was rigorously assessed. Three water-dispersible polymer binders—an acrylic copolymer, an aliphatic polyurethane, and a poly(vinyl chloride-co-ethylene) copolymer—served as matrices, while the conductive phase comprised commercial carbon-black pigments containing 30 wt%, 45 wt%, or 50 wt% carbon black. The polymer–pigment composites were deposited onto the textiles by pad coating and screen printing. To elucidate structure–property relationships, pigment loadings of 10 wt%, 20 wt%, 50 wt%, and 70 wt% were systematically varied and their influence on shielding effectiveness quantified. All EM measurements were performed in a controlled anechoic chamber. For a 1 mm coating thickness, the maximum two-way signal attenuation reached −27.1 dB for one fabric variant and −37.8 dB for the other, clearly surpassing the 12 dB minimum required by the Polish Defence Standard. • Lightweight textile-integrated polymer–carbon black coatings on warp-knitted mesh. • Comparison of acrylic, aliphatic PU, and PVC–ethylene binders with 10–70 wt % CB. • Up to –37.8 dB two-way radar attenuation at 1 mm thickness, surpassing –12 dB standard.