Abstract
Making carbon fiber reinforced plastics electrically conductive is an amended solution to the current lightning strike protection technology. However, optimization of the through-thickness electrical conductivity to meet a safety requirement of aircraft against lightning strikes remains unexplored. In this work, four carbon fiber reinforced plastics panels with different through-thickness electrical conductivity were fabricated using a polyaniline-based conductive resin. Their through-thickness electrical conductivity was tailored to achieve specific values using a controlled thermal treatment. The fabricated carbon fiber reinforced plastics panels were tested against a simulated lightning current of 40 kA, and the influence of through-thickness electrical properties on the performance of lightning strike protection was studied. Thermography data and ultrasonic non-destructive testing images confirmed least damage on the sample with higher electrical conductivity. Specimen with through-thickness electrical conductivity of around 110 S/m was able to retain about 92% of the residual flexural strength after the lightning test.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 429-438 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Composites - Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing |
Volume | 114 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2018 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors acknowledge JSPS for the financial support of this project (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, 16H02424 ).
Keywords
- CFRP
- Lightning strike protection
- Multifunctional composites
- Polyaniline