CircuitWorks Conductive Paint is a single component, silver-filled polymer that dries in minutes at room temperature, making it an ideal solution for patching EMI/RFI shielding. The kit comes with brushes, swabs, and a plastic pick to repair large and small areas.
In the case of metal screen and wire mesh, it is important that the holes in the screen or mesh are significantly smaller than the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation being kept out. The goal of such mesh designs is to maintain a consistent hole pattern with a conductive material to ensure electrical continuity. Such a mesh can be repaired by restoring the hole pattern using polyimide tape and CircuitWorks Conductive Paint.
Simply apply the polyimide tape to the inside of the mesh and carefully restore the mesh pattern with the CW2205. It is important to ensure that the contact is maintained between the mesh and the conductive paint. A second layer of polyimide tape can be applied to the opposite side for increased durability. Since the polyimide tape is invisible to electromagnetic fields at these wavelengths, the polyimide tape can remain and the EMI shield is restored.
Figure 1: Damaged screen mesh can be repaired with polyimide tape and conductive paint.
Another common situation is that the aluminum foil inside shielded cable is damaged. Similar to the case above, this will cause a loss of continuity and could again allow electromagnetic interference. A simple repair in this case is to repair the hole or tear with polyimide tape and then use the CircuitWorks Conductive Paint to paint the tape and restore continuity.