White Paper
Aircraft are typically struck by lighting several times per year, to maintain safety in the fuel system lighting strike isolators are used. These devices must dispate static charges that are generated by fuel flowing through the system while also providing insulation from a lighting strike charge.
Explore the use of thermoplastic composites incorporating carbon nanotube additives to replace carbon fiber and carbon black filled epoxies for the manufacture of lighting strike isolators.
Unlike other ESD materials, testing indicates that carbon nanotube filled thermoplastics can resist the “burn in” phenomenon where a high energy charge creates a permanent conductive pathway through a material.
