Is current carbon tech safe?

[Djarraluda]

Originally Posted by colemj

CSM is not used to bulk up thickness (well, it shouldn't be, at least). The purpose of CSM in a layup is to help with print-through on the gelcoat side and to help with bonding between layers of the real structural glass (cloth, stitched fabric, roving, etc). In the first use, it should be only as thick as necessary. In the second use, it should be thin - for example, 18oz biaxial fabric will use a 0.75oz CSM between layers.

If it is being used to make a layup significantly thicker, then it is being used incorrectly and corners are being cut - or it is just a cheap, non-structural part.

Mark

"Should" !
You are being a tad extreme in the "incorrect" statement, folks will do what they do for their own reasons. I am not going to judge that because I do not know their reasons.
I will state though, that if you are engineering a membrane using the skins as the key elements, it is a totally different structure than a solid mass of goop - whatever that goop comprises. At the end of the day, both can do the same job, albeit in differing manners and with different time and cost.
Roger

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Djarraluda

You are being a tad extreme in the "incorrect" statement, folks will do what they do for their own reasons. I am not going to judge that because I do not know their reasons.

Sorry, I was addressing my comments to be about commercial boat builders. It is unlikely any of them outside very small boats (bass boats, jet skis, small lake boats, etc) are using CSM the way you described. Certainly, nobody can speak for those who are building things as amateurs, and I didn't mean to.

Mark

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Typically composite aircraft have conductive material added to the composites for Lightning Strike Prevention, such as a copper mesh included in the layups. In most places the 787, for instance, uses a wire mesh, but in some extremities (wingtips, nacelles, tails) metal foils are used instead.

Lightning strike protection strategies for composite aircraft
➥ Lightning strike protection strategies for composite aircraft : CompositesWorld
➥ http://www.dexmet.com/1_pdf/LSP%20fo...20Aircraft.pdf

Faraday's cage if memory serves me? Probably the same logic of grounding shrouds. I would imagine grounding all chain plates would be the ticket?