Thinner foils for LSP

Lightning strike protection (LSP) material specialist Dexmet (Wallingford, Conn.) touted new additions to its MicroGrid expanded metal foils line: Foils that feature reduced planar thickness with a smaller open area in the grid.

The foils offer the same conductivity as thicker foils because they have identical mass. But the installed foils give the airframer an LSP solution that is less costly and, importantly, reduces aircraft weight, because a thinner adhesive layer is required during application. Dexmet's thinnest copper foil, for example, weighs 175 g/m2 but is only 0.002 inch/0.045 mm thick.

All Dexmet foils are available in widths of 36 inches and 52 inches (914 mm and 1,320 mm) — they are reportedly the only LSP foils available in the larger width. www.dexmet.com