Simulation of lightning protection performance of composite materials with different aluminum spraying parameters

Abstract

In order to study the damage law of composite material full and partial aluminum spraying protection system lightning strike protection caused by lightning current, the lightning damage process and ablation mechanism were analyzed, the energy balance mathematical model of composite laminated plate lightning protection was established. On this basis, a thermal-electrical coupling analysis finite element model of carbon fiber reinforcement plastic (CFRP) with the composite material reference specimen, full-scale spraying aluminum and partial spraying aluminum protection system subjected to lightning current had been established based on ABAQUS, and lightning strike ablation damage was analyzed. The experimental results verified the validity of the simulation, and the lightning ablation damage index DI was introduced.The ablation damage law of three different models under different aluminum coating thickness and different peak lightning current was obtained, and the damage characteristics of composites under two different local aluminum spray protection systems were compared and analyzed. The results show that the relation between the ablative damage area of composite material and the thickness of aluminum coating in the lighting protection system is functionally fitted, both of which satisfy the functional relation of power function.

Keywords

• lightning strike
• composites
• spraying aluminum protection system
• damage
• ablation