Nickel-coated nylon sandwich film for combination of lightning strike protection and electromagnetic interference shielding of CFRP composite

Abstract

This paper reports the development of a highly conductive and cost-effective nylon filter/nickel (NFNi) sandwiched film by a chemical deposition method. The NFNi film was prepared onto a carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite with an averaged layer thickness of 0.19 mm by hot-pressing method to achieve a combination of lightning strike protection (LSP) and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. Commercially available buckypaper (BP) and copper mesh were also attached onto the CFRP composites for comparison. The LSP effectiveness of the films was examined using simulated lightning strike tests with the peak current of 100 kA. It was found that the area of damage and the depth of the CFRP composites with the NFNi film were reduced by 20.29% and 37.5% respectively after the lightning strike tests. The residual strength of the CFRP was maintained at 95.63% with the NFNi film, comparable to that with the copper mesh. However, the areal density of the NFNi film was 11.3% lighter than that of the copper mesh. It was further shown that the CFRP composite with the NFNi film exhibited excellent EMI shielding performance of up to 63.1 dB in the frequency range 8.2–12.4 GHz, which was much superior to that of the copper mesh and the BP. The sandwich structure of the film enhanced the reflection loss of the electromagnetic waves on the outer surface within the core of the NFNi film.