Lightning Protection Characteristics
This issue has been debated for a long time. People have long believed that aluminum composite panels, being made of pure aluminum, have better conductivity. To address this, the German company ALUSUISSESINGEN GMBH conducted lightning strike resistance tests on both materials in a German military laboratory. The results showed that during a lightning strike, both aluminum composite panels and aluminum single-layer panels, using the same curtain wall connection method, provided complete protection against the instantaneous impact. However, under continuous lightning current, the metal plate or metal surface layer is prone to melting at the point of impact. Aluminum composite panels, due to the excellent insulation of the polyethylene core layer, suffer damage from lightning strikes limited to the surface. From this perspective, aluminum composite panels have better lightning strike resistance than aluminum single-layer panels.
Fire Resistance Characteristics
It is common knowledge that aluminum single-layer panels are non-combustible. Early aluminum composite panels were not fireproof, but with advancements in aluminum composite panel technology, fire-resistant aluminum composite panels, due to the addition of non-toxic flame-retardant materials to the PE layer, have significantly improved fire resistance and now fully meet the needs of engineering fire protection.
