Lightning strike resistance of an electrically conductive CFRP with a CSA-doped PANI/epoxy matrix

Understanding how arc attachment behaviour influences the prediction of composite specimen thermal loading during an artificial lightning strike test

“…Like any lightning event an aircraft lightning strike is a complex coupled phenomenon made up of electrical, magnetic, thermal and mechanical components [2]. Lightning strikes can have a detrimental effect on composite structures if they are not protected via specialised surface materials (typically metal meshes or paints) [3][4][5][6]. Compared with metals composites have poor electrical properties due primarily to the properties of the polymer constituent and the isolating nature of reinforcing fibre lamination within the polymer (with the fibres typically possessing good electrical conductivity).…”

“…To date test standards representing the features of real world lightning events have been developed and are used to ensure that lightning protection systems can safely shield the underlying composite materials during the service life of an aircraft [8][9][10][11]. Variants of such test procedures have also been used to understand how the design parameters of a composite material and the parameters of the test arrangement influence the scale and form of material damage with and without protection systems [3][4][5][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. However, due to the experimental challenges associated with lightning strike testing (the high energy involved, the short duration of the event, the limited number of facilities and resulting cost and waiting time [26]) a body of computational research has also evolved which attempts to model the standard tests.…”

“…However, due to the experimental challenges associated with lightning strike testing (the high energy involved, the short duration of the event, the limited number of facilities and resulting cost and waiting time [26]) a body of computational research has also evolved which attempts to model the standard tests. The general objective of such modelling work is to enable the prediction of the physical behaviours during a strike to understand how damage is caused and how protection systems can be improved [3][4][5][6].…”

“…Katunin et al [3][4] tests a novel material system, developed to reduce material damage during a lightning strike. Wang et al [5] experimentally examines a number of protection systems including their method of application.…”

Assessing the Novel Aircraft Lightning Strike Protection Technology Using Technology Impact Forecasting

“…To address these limitations, some researchers have proposed new LSP solutions where conductive polymers were incorporated into the epoxy matrix to increase the electrical conductivity of CFRP structures. For instance, the electrical conductivity of CFRP (especially in its thickness direction) can be enhanced by mixing an intrinsic conductive polymer polyaniline (PANI) with epoxy when preparing the CFRP matrix [9][10] [11]. Although the electrical conductivity of CFRP can be increased by 20-fold, such technology suffers from a major limitation in terms of compromised CFRP mechanical properties.…”