Metal Foam Shields
- Paper number
IAC-06-B6.P.2.02
- Author
Dr. Eric Christiansen, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Johnson Space Center, United States
- Coauthor
Mr. Frankel Lyons, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Johnson Space Center, United States
- Year
2006
- Abstract
This paper compares the ballistic performance of metallic foam sandwich structures with honeycomb structures. Honeycomb sandwich structures, consisting of metallic or composite facesheets and honeycomb cores, are often used in spacecraft construction due to their light-weight and structural stiffness. Honeycomb panels, however, are considered rather poor candidates for protection from micrometeoroid orbital debris (MMOD) particles because the honeycomb “channels” the debris cloud from MMOD impacts on outer facesheet causing a concentrated load on the second facesheet. Sandwich structures with light-weight, open-cell metallic cores and metal or composite facesheets provide improved MMOD protection because channeling does not occur and because the core is more effective at disrupting hypervelocity impacts then honeycomb. This paper describes hypervelocity impact tests on metallic foam sandwich structures (aluminum and titanium) with metallic facesheets, compare them to equivalent mass and thickness honeycomb panels, based on the results of hypervelocity impact tests.
- Abstract document