Originally Posted by
Grebe
You may be missing the point re lightning strike and composite. ................
Nope, not missing the point. Solely responding to the OP's single sentence post/response (# 26) regarding discontinuous fibres embedded in a non-conductive matrix. Not a typical method for fabrication of primary structures, most of which must also display adequate conductivity to address lighting strikes, p-static dissipation and the general electrical bonding requirements of airframe structures.
Now, to address yours...........
Woven and knitted dry fibre preforms for structural components (which is where the research/fabrication developments in composite primary structures have been moving in recent years) lend themselves towards having suitable conductive meshes/conductive 'fingers' at attachment points, etc. incorporated into them, ahead of their impregnation with structural resins (see 'resin transfer moulding', 'resin infusion', etc.). I'm not aware that these approaches have been validated in widespread use, but I can see the potential benefits.
Can you give me some real-world airframe examples where every lamina in a laminate (via the conductive fibres) is effectively electrically bonded to adjacent structure ? Open question. I haven't seen many solid monolithic laminates (fighter aircraft wing skin, 50 plies) or honeycomb panels (fibreglass/carbon/boron skins, aramid cores) with the kind of treatment you suggest. Probably because it's that airframe structures must be producible and are not 'science experiments'. The conductivity is typically effected through the outermost plies/surfaces or with conductive surface coatings/diverter strips/etc. grounded to the adjacent mounting/support structures.
Taking your point on grounding all lamina of a laminate (monolithic or honeycomb with facings), look at how non-metallic radomes survive lightning strikes. Not very well, usually. Conductivity and RF transparency (active/passive systems) are competing performance requirements, with the later usually trumping the former.