A Method for the Measurement of Shielding Effectiveness of Planar Samples Requiring No Sample Edge Preparation or Contact

A method is presented for the measurement of shielding effectiveness of planar materials with nonconducting surfaces such as carbon fiber composites. The method overcomes edge termination problems with such materials by absorbing edge-diffracted energy. A dynamic range of up to 100 dB has been demonstrated over a frequency range of 1-8.5 GHz, depending on the size of the sample under test. Comparison with ASTM D4935 and nested reverberation measurements of shielding effectiveness shows good agreement.