Purpose

This paper aims to present a numerical analysis and comparison of two types of conductive fillers of polymeric composites subjected to lightning strikes.

Design/methodology/approach

Two types of conductive fillers were considered in the developed numerical models of electrically conductive composites: carbon nanotubes and polyaniline. For these fillers, the representative volume elements were developed to consider distribution of the particles that ensures percolation and homogenization of the materials within the Eshelby-based semi-analytical mean-field homogenization approach. The performed numerical analyses allowed determination of effective volume fractions of conducting particles, resistivity and conductivity tensors, and finally the current density for the simulated materials subjected to lightning strike.

Findings

The obtained results allowed for comparison of electrical conductivity of two simulated materials. It was observed that besides fair results obtained in the previous studies for intrinsically conducting polymers as fillers of composites dedicated for lightning strike protection, the composites filled with carbon nanotubes reveal much better conductivity.

Practical implications

The presented simulation results can be considered as initial information for further experimental tests on electrical conductivity of such materials.

Originality/value

The originality of the paper lies in the proposed design and simulation procedures of conductive composites as well as the comparison of selected composites dedicated for lightning strike protection as the most intensively developed materials for this purpose.

中文翻译：

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飞机雷击防护复合材料导电填料的数值分析

目的

本文旨在对遭受雷击的聚合物复合材料的两种类型的导电填料进行数值分析和比较。

设计/方法/方法

在开发的导电复合材料数值模型中考虑了两种类型的导电填料：碳纳米管和聚苯胺。对于这些填料，开发了具有代表性的体积元素，以考虑颗粒的分布，以确保在基于Eshelby的半分析平均场均化方法中材料的渗透和均质化。进行的数值分析可以确定导电颗粒的有效体积分数，电阻率和电导率张量，最后可以确定遭受雷击的模拟材料的电流密度。

发现

获得的结果允许比较两种模拟材料的电导率。可以观察到，除了在先前的研究中获得的本征导电聚合物作为专用于雷击防护的复合材料的填料的合理结果之外，填充有碳纳米管的复合材料还显示出更好的导电性。

实际影响

提出的模拟结果可以被视为有关此类材料电导率的进一步实验测试的初始信息。

创意/价值

本文的独创性在于拟议的导电复合材料的设计和仿真程序，以及所选专用于雷击防护的复合材料的比较，这是为此目的开发最密集的材料。