Experimental knitted, textile frequency selective surfaces

Abstract

A new approach to the manufacture of conducting textiles for operation at microwave frequencies is reported. The technique investigated utilises a commercial flat-bed knitting process which is configured to use conducting yarns to produce large area, patterned, conducting textiles in an efficient manner which is amenable to mass production. The computerised flat-bed knitting system is used to manufacture example frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) using silver coated nylon yarn combined with a polyester base yarn. Reflectivity measurements are presented to confirm the basic operation of both a lowpass and a highpass knitted, textile FSS.