An analytical 3D model of metal foams for EM shielding applications

In this paper a preliminary electromagnetic shielding behaviour of metal foams, is developed and discussed. Metal foams represent a novel class of materials which promise new interesting properties employable for various purposes. More specifically, the realization of electromagnetic shields has been considered and experimental Shielding Effectiveness (SE) measurements have been performed, demonstrating very good performance. In order to allow the design of metal foam EM shields, double 3D wire-mesh screens, obtained as a development of a previously 2D laminated shield, has been presented, comparing the relative results with experimental measure. The good agreement among the preliminary data paves the way to obtain an efficient analytical model of the complex electromagnetic behavior of metal foams.