Artificial Dielectric Fabric

Abstract

Artificial dielectric material characterized by an organic matrix composed of woven and/or non-woven fibers coated with a metallic material wherein the article exhibits a measurable conductivity at microwave frequencies when the article is overall non-conductive at DC.

1 . An artificial dielectric article comprising: 
 a non-conductive matrix; and    a metallic material coated thereon;    wherein said non-conductive matrix and said metallic material have a measurable conductivity at microwave frequencies, and said non-conductive matrix and said metallic material being non-conductive at DC; and    wherein said non-conductive matrix and said metallic material include properties of electromagnetic percolation and a dielectric constant that varies over frequency.    
   
   
       2 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic percolation includes a threshold where the real and imaginery dielectric constant are approximately equal within about 10%.  
   
   
       3 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said non-conductive matrix is coated for a selected period of time including 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 minutes.  
   
   
       4 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said matrix includes a network of woven and/or non-woven organic fibers.  
   
   
       5 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein a thickness of said metallic material is approximately in the range of 0.05-50 microns and said dielectric constant of said article is approximately in the range of 1-1000 real dielectric constants and approximately in the range 0-1000 imaginary dielectric constants.  
   
   
       6 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said metallic material includes at least one of metallic particles, alloy particles, and mixtures thereof.  
   
   
       7 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said microwave frequencies range over a frequency range of approximately 2 MHz to 100 GHz.  
   
   
       8 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said metallic material includes electrically conducting metals.  
   
   
       9 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said metallic material includes at least one of copper, nickel, gold, iron, silver and mixtures thereof.  
   
   
       10 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said artificial dielectric article has real and imaginary dielectric constants that are about equal.  
   
   
       11 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said matrix includes a network of woven fibers.  
   
   
       12 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said matrix includes a network of non-woven fibers, wherein said non-woven fibers are randomly arranged.  
   
   
       13 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said artificial dielectric article includes a real dielectric constant varying from a negative value up to 1000 over the frequency range of approximately 2 MHz to 100 GHz.  
   
   
       14 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said matrix is composed of any of common textile materials and mixtures thereof.  
   
   
       15 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said matrix includes a high pulp content non-woven composite fabric.  
   
   
       16 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said matrix includes a cotton material.  
   
   
       17 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said matrix includes non-woven organic fibers.  
   
   
       18 . The article of  claim 1 , wherein said article includes negative real dielectric constants.