Experimental Investigation Of Oblique Hypervelocity Impact On Thin Aluminum Plates
- Paper number
IAC-07-A6.I.12
- Author
Dr. Gongshun Guan, Harbin Institute of Technology, China
- Year
2007
- Abstract
Hypervelocity impacts on spacecraft in low earth orbit by meteoroids and space debris posed a threat to space missions. These impacts can damage flight-critical systems, which can in turn lead to catastrophic failure of the spacecraft. Therefore, the design of spacecraft for an earth–orbiting mission must take into account the possibility of such impacts and their effects on the spacecraft structure. So, investigation into the impact damage characteristics has become an important problem for spacecraft protection designing. A two-stage light gas gun with non-powder projection was used to launch Al-sphere projectiles. Impact velocities were 2.58km/s, 3.56km/s and 4.31km/s respectively. Impact angles ranged from 0°to 80°. The results indicated that the penetration hole size in thin aluminum alloy sheets was dependence on impact velocity and impact angle. When an aluminum alloy sphere of 3.97mm diameter hypervelocity impacted on the thin aluminum alloy sheet of 1mm thickness at different angles, the critical impact angle was between 30°and 40°in which projectile leaped away from the target partially. As impact angle increased, the maximum ricochet angle decreased, and the distributing area of ricochet debris cloud reduced. Impact velocity has little effect on the penetration hole ellipticity of thin aluminum alloy sheets under oblique hypervelocity impact. In this paper, the oblique hypervelocity impacts of space debris on bumper of spacecrafts were studied through 2017 aluminum spheres impacting on thin 2A12 aluminum alloy sheets at different angles. The penetration hole characteristics of single-wall shields and the ricochet characteristics of projectiles were analyzed. The equations for the penetration hole size of oblique hypervelocity impact in thin aluminum alloy sheets were derived.
- Abstract document