Effectively Reduced Damages with Increased Through-thickness Electrical Conductivity of CFRPs Against Artificial Lighting Strike

摘要

Most common method to make Carbon Fabric Reinforced Plastics (CFRPs)electrical conductive is to add conductive fillers, but how much through planeelectricalconductivity is needed to be safe against lightning strikes has not beeninvestigated yet. In this work, three Carbon Fabric Reinforced Plastics (CFRPs) panelswith 0.8, 0.56 and 0.17 S/cm Through-thickness electrical conductivity respectivelyare prepared using a conductive polymer-based conductive resin. Thermal degradationand de-doping of the conductive polymer were capitalized to design the compositepanels with various electrical conductivities. Prepared CFRP panels were testedagainst simulated lightning current of 40 kA. The effect of the Through-thicknesselectrical properties on the effectiveness against lightning strike is characterized usingvarious techniques. The most severe damage after lightning strike usually occur due tothe rapid increase in the temperature due to Joule’s effect. This suggest that thedamage behavior of the CFRP panels are highly dependent on the orthotropicelectrical conductive nature of the specimen. By increasing the through-thicknesselectrical conductivity, orthotropic behavior of CFRPs are tried to mitigate. Athermography camera was used to observe the temperature profile on the surface ofthe samples at the time of impulse current arc attachment to the samples. Least rise intemperature was observed with high through-thickness electrical conductivitysamples. Ultrasonic non-destructive testing images confirmed the least damage tosample with electrical conductivity of 0.8 S/cm.