Influence of double-component epoxy resin coating on the ablation characteristic of coated steel under simulated lightning continuing current

Ablation tests were conducted on uncoated steel sheets and the steel sheets painted with anticorrosion and antistatic coatings, with simulated lightning continuing currents of 200 A amplitude and 215 ms duration, respectively. The macroscopic and microscopic morphology of ablated area, rear-face temperature of tested samples and the arc voltage of simulated lightning current were analyzed comprehensively. It has been concluded that, for both the antistatic coated and anticorrosion coated samples, the size of the completely ablated area, in which coating film has been stripped completely from steel surface, decreases when the coating thickness increases from 100 μm to 400 μm. The size of completely ablated area on antistatic coated sample is larger than that on anticorrosion coated sample. The energy that the antistatic and anticorrosion coatings absorbed by decomposition is more than the energy they released by combustion, while the heat block effect of anticorrosion coating is more obvious than the antistatic coating. The ablation duration of antistatic coating is longer than that of anticorrosion coating. It increases gradually with coating thickness increasing, while the ablation duration of anticorrosion coating decreases slightly.