DESIGN OF LIGHTWEIGHT PERFORATED COPPER FOIL FOR LIGHTNING PROTECTION OF FIBER REINFORCED PLASTIC

Expanded foil wide area conductors have been successfully
applied on the exterior of fiber reinforced plastic skins for
protection from lightning strike. These materials have
provided adequate protection to the vehicle, but the weight
penalty of covering large regions of the skin surface is
impactful. Very thin, lightweight, wide area foil conductors
have been developed and embedded into lightweight epoxy
surfacing prepregs to provide strike protection with
significantly less weight penalty to the vehicle. This paper
reviews the design, construction and test results achieved for
conductors that have been designed in a digital environment
and fabricated by plating and/or laser cutting to the digital
definition.