Coating material for a surface of an aircraft with lightning protection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025333611-A1
Application number	US-202318384587-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 27, 2023
Priority date	Oct 28, 2022
Publication date	Oct 30, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

A coating material for a surface of an aircraft includes a polymer-based or rubber-based dielectric matrix material, and first flakes of a metallic and/or soft-magnetic, electrically conductive material that are embedded into the matrix material, wherein the first flakes are geometrically two-dimensional and have a ratio of thickness to average diameter of 1:3 or less, and wherein the first flakes are separated from one another in the matrix material and/or have an electrically non-conductive coating.

First claim

1 . A coating material for a surface of an aircraft, comprising:
a polymer-based or rubber-based dielectric matrix material; and first flakes of a metallic and/or soft-magnetic, electrically conductive material that are embedded into the matrix material, wherein the flakes in the coating material are geometrically two-dimensional and have a ratio of thickness to average diameter of 1:3 or less, and wherein the flakes in the coating material are separated from one another in the matrix material and/or have a non-conductive coating.

2 . The coating material of claim 1 , wherein thickness of the flakes in the coating material is within a range from 0.1 μm to 5 μm.

3 . The coating material of claim 1 , wherein an average diameter of the flakes in the coating material is within a range from 1 μm to 25 μm.

4 . The coating material of claim 1 , wherein the flakes in the coating material are aligned essentially parallel to the surface of the aircraft.

5 . The coating material of claim 1 , wherein a content by volume of the flakes in the coating material is within a range from 5% to 40%, or from 20% to 35%.

6 . The coating material of claim 1 , wherein the first flakes have an electrically insulating coating comprising silicon dioxide and/or aluminum oxide.

7 . The coating material of claim 1 , wherein a material of the first flakes includes elements of iron, nickel, zinc, cobalt, copper, magnesium, cadmium, barium, strontium, silicon, germanium, oxygen, and/or an alloy or an intermetallic compound of the elements.

8 . The coating material of claim 1 , comprising second flakes of a metallic material that differ from a material of the first flakes and has an infrared emission level of not more than 0.2, and
wherein the second flakes are embedded into the matrix material together with the first flakes.

9 . An aircraft having at least one component having a surface, wherein the surface of the at least one component includes the coating material of claim 1 .

10 . The aircraft of claim 9 ,
wherein the surface has two or more sections, and wherein the coating material in at least one of the sections has a different pattern and/or a different proportion by volume than in another section.

11 . The aircraft of claim 9 , wherein some of the first flakes are connected to ground by at least one electrical terminal point.

12 . The aircraft of claim 9 , wherein the at least one component is a low-observable component.

Assignees

• Airbus Defence & Space Gmbh

Inventors

• Dittrich Kay Werner
• Karch Christian
• Bleckmann Matthias
• Schuster Thomas

Classifications

• C09D7/70

  characterised by shape, e.g. fibres, flakes or microspheres · CPC title

• C09D7/68

  Particle size between 100-1000 nm · CPC title

• C09D7/69

  Particle size larger than 1000 nm · CPC title

• C08K3/10

  Metal compounds · CPC title

• C08K7/02

  Fibres or whiskers · CPC title