Effect of Multi layers Insulation on Damage of Aluminum Mesh /Plate Shield under Hypervelocity Projectiles Impact
- Paper number
IAC-11,A6,3,24,x9915
- Author
Dr. Gongshun Guan, Harbin Institute of Technology, China
- Coauthor
Mrs. Weiqiu Xu, Heilongjiang Provincial Hospital, China
- Year
2011
- Abstract
Multi Layers Insulation (MLI) is made of thin layers of highly reflective Kapton or Mylar kept apart from each other by light spacers made of Dacron or similar material. The front layer of the MLI is sometimes coated to avoid electrical charging of the spacecraft. The number of layers and their thickness depends upon specific thermal requirements. The impact tests were performed onto aluminum mesh/plate shields with MLI, each of them consisting of 5052aluminum alloy mesh and 2A12 aluminum alloy bumpers with a 3mm thickness 5A06 aluminum alloy rear wall, and a MLI blanket on top of the bumper and the rear wall respectively. The overall space between bumper and rear wall was 100mm. The meshes of 5052 aluminum alloy mesh were 14. The differences between configuration with and without MLI were not only evident with regard to the onset of perforation, but also with respect to the overall damage. Detached spall, bulges and inner failures can be observed over an extended area. For this study, aluminum alloy spheres were launched, with the protection of sabots, at velocities between 4.28km/s and 4.65km/s. The diameter of projectile was 3.97mm. The impact angle was 0° for all the tests. The projectile velocities were measured by magnetic induction. The uncertainty in these measurements is approximately ±2\%. The pressure of nitrogen gas in the first stage reservoir ranged from 3MPa to 15MPa. The pressure of hydrogen gas in pump tube ranged from 0.1MPa to 0.12MPa. This paper discussed the results obtained from all impact tests performed by launching aluminum spheres onto aluminum mesh/plate shield configuration with MLI blanket. It was found that MLI blanket had a significant effect on small debris, so that a MLI blanket shouldn’t be placed on the first layer. And it was found that when a MLI blanket on top of the rear wall, performance of shield can be elevated, because microstructure of MLI blanket induced multiple shocks to the projectiles, which resulted in dramatically increase of proportion of liquefaction and gasification and effective disperse of momentum.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-11,A6,3,24,x9915.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.