Abstract
Electrically conductive adhesive layers were deposited on top of aerospace grade carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) panels using a small-scale 3D printer. Polylactic acid (PLA) filaments with copper filler (CU-PLA) and graphene filler (GO-PLA) were used to print around 0.7 mm thick electrically conductive layer on top of CFRP panels. 3D printed polymeric layers were tested for their effectiveness as a lightning strike protection (LSP) material by subjected to a simulated lightning strike. A painted, electrically non-conductive unprotected panel was also tested for comparison. In the case of the CU-PLA protected sample, a high electrical conductivity proved to be useful in fast dissipation of the lightning current. Fast current dissipation helped to reduce the resistive heating after a lightning strike. Thermography and high-speed camera analysis were employed to study the heat generation and current dissipation during the lightning strike. These results established that a useful Faraday Cage was applied via additive manufacturing successfully. This work shows the successful application of 3D printing for producing LSP technologies, with future work aimed at investigating optimal printable electrically conductive thermoset material candidates.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| State | Published - 2020 |
| Event | 6th Annual Composites and Advanced Materials Expo, CAMX 2019 - Anaheim, United States Duration: Sep 23 2019 → Sep 26 2019 |
Conference
| Conference | 6th Annual Composites and Advanced Materials Expo, CAMX 2019 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Anaheim |
| Period | 09/23/19 → 09/26/19 |
Funding
Research sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Industrial Technologies Program, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).
