Investigation of composite material destruction under lightning stroke effect

Abstract

Destruction processes of composite materials under lightning stroke effect have been studied. The results of characteristic damages of samples have been presented upon a series of tests conducted with standard lightning currents and those ones whose shape is close to actual lightning stroke. There have been exhibited distinctions between the levels of sample damages: in the second case significant damages of composite matrix external layers have been shown, among which multiple destructions of bundles of carbon fibers at a depth of several layers, layer delamination and cavities formed inside sample. There have been described the results of generalized analysis of damages obtained by applying nondestructive inspection methods: stereoscopic microscope investigation and X-ray microtomography. The mechanism of damages has been presented on the basis of obtained data. The results of testing electrical, mechanical, thermal properties of composite samples have been given upon a set of experiments for lightning current resistance.