Copper foil and aluminum foil for lightning protection

Carbon fiber wind blades are gradually replacing glass fiber blades to adapt to the development of greater output power of wind energy.

Carbon fiber wind blades reduce blade weight while increasing blade strength, allowing these larger turbines to spin at lower wind speeds.

But carbon fiber is electrically conductive, making it easy to be struck by lightning, but not electrically conductive enough to draw energy out of the blades. This requires adding additional protection to the blades to avoid catastrophic failure caused by lightning strikes.

Precision microporous steel mesh (copper foil or aluminum foil) has good electrical conductivity. Aluminum foil/copper foil is inserted into the composite and the material is made into blades in order to provide a lightweight shielding solution for wind energy. In addition, copper/aluminum foil is an ideal material to solve the electromagnetic compatibility of composite materials.

When struck by lightning, copper/aluminum foil plays a critical role in electrical conductivity, effectively dissipating damaging lightning strikes, protecting the carbon fiber layer and extending blade life.