Design and experimental validation of new lightweight lightning protection copper mesh for aircrafts

doi:10.19936/j.cnki.2096-8000.20260528.008

Abstract

Abstract: At present, lightning protection of aircraft composite structural parts widely uses lightning protection copper mesh, however, this leads to the problem of increasing the weight of the overall structure, in order to meet the urgent need for weight reduction of the lightning protection layer, this study is aimed at the lightweight design of lightning protection copper mesh in Zone 2A. Firstly, 13 groups of copper mesh samples with different thicknesses, mesh sizes and strand width were selected in combination with the design parameters of traditional copper mesh in Zone 2A, and the lightning damage characteristics of composite structural parts with copper mesh under different parameters were investigated through the simulation system, and the parameter boundaries of copper mesh under the severe direct lightning strike condition were determined. Based on this, a new type of lightweight copper mesh was designed, and its lightning protection performance was verified to meet the design requirements, and the weight per unit area was reduced by 14.5% compared with the current mainstream copper mesh products.

Key words: carbon fiber composites, direct lightning effect, lightweight copper mesh, electro-thermal coupling, lightning protection effect

CLC Number:

TB332

ZHANG Tiechun, LI Jie, GONG Hanlin, TAN Jiaming, LI Xiaoer, ZHANG Jiajun, SI Xiaoliang. Design and experimental validation of new lightweight lightning protection copper mesh for aircrafts[J]. COMPOSITES SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, 2026, 0(5): 54-62.

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