Research On Hypervelocity Impact Properties Of Woven Of Basalt Fibric And Its Stuffed Shielding Structure

Along with the development of space activity, the space debris population isgrowing continually, so the space debris environment is ever deteriorating. Thehazards to orbiting spacecrafts from space debris are aggravated increasingly. Themeasures must be taked to protect the spacecrafts against millimeter-grade spacedebris impacts. Whipple bumper shield is a basic type of space debris shielding. Atpresent, in accordance with reliability and function demand for different spacecraftsand components of all kinds, the high strength fiber materials such as Kevlar andNextel have been used in the advanced space debris shielding configurations suchas stuffed Whipple shields, multi-shock shields and mesh double-bumper shields. Itis a key link to choose the bumper materials and configurations of the shielding.Optimization of the advanced bumper materials and development of the advancedspace debris shielding can afford worthful references to ensure running safely inorbit in the space debris environment for spacecrafts. It is important to understandand grasp the highvelocity impact character and mechanism about materials andstructure of shielding for development of high velocity impact dynamic in thesphere of academic research.Woven of basalt fiber is a kind of fiber material too, having high strength andhigh modulus properties, and thus has a potential advantage for using in spacedebris shielding. The hypervelocity impact damage characteristics and mechanismof the domestic woven of basalt fiber material and its stuffed Whipple shieldingconfiguration were studied systematically, and the relationship of the hypervelocityimpact macro-effects of the material and the shielding with the process of dynamicresponse, micro-woven fabric structure and shielding configuration was analyzedby hypervelocity impacting tests and theoretical analysis method in present paper.The main research works include:First of all, Hypervelocity impact tests to study the damage properties ofwoven of basalt fiber against with space debris were carried out by the non-powdertwo-stage light gas gun facilities at Hypervelocity Impact Research Center inHarbin Institute of Technology. In addition to the spallation damage in the rear of aluminum projectile after hypervelocity impacting on woven of basalt fiber, theerosion damage in the front surface of the projectile that never be observed beforenow also can be observed. The initial velocity of aluminum projectile melting afterimpacting with woven of basalt fiber was determined according to the moltenaluminum spherical particles that splashed around the perforation by useing ofdigital microscope. It is confirmed that the fragmention-initation velocities ofaluminum alloy projectiles impacting on woven of basalt fiber are lower thanimpacting on aluminum alloy plate with the same areal density within the scope ofthe experiment. The perforation diameter equation of woven of basalt fiber, theresidual velocity equation and the fragmention-initation velocity equation ofaluminum alloy projectile were seted up. It provides a basis for woven of basaltfiber to be using in the stuffed Whipple shilding.Secondly,the impact dynamics model for analysing the dynamic process ofhypervelocity impact between woven of basalt fiber and aluminum projectile hasbeen built up. The macro-analysis model that aluminum projectile impact on wovenof basalt fiber only once was interchanged with the micro-analysis dynamic modelthat basalt fiberes impact on a half-space body (semi-infinite body) of the projectilerepeatedly by exchanging the role of aluminum projectile and woven of basalt fibertarget.Thirdly, according to the damage formes of projectiles impacting on woven ofbasalt fiber in hypervelocity impact testes and by using the micro-analysisdynamic model, the damage mechanismes of projectile were analyzed. Accordingto the iteration calculate results, the cumulative effect of the shock pressure wasstudied, and the melting mechanism of projectile caused by cumulative effect ofthe shock temperature was studied qualitatively. The analysis results showed thatthe main reasons of causing the spallation damage in the rear of aluminumprojectile and the erosion damage in the front surface of the projectile was themulti-shock on the projectile with the basalt fiberes at multi-poits.Finaly,the impact properties of woven of basalt fiber stuffed Whippleshielding were investigated by hypervelocity impact testes. The test results showedthat the protection property of woven of basalt fabric coated with epoxy resinadhesive/aluminum sheet stuffed Whipple shielding was better than doublealuminumsheet shielding, and equivalent to Nextel/Kevlar stuffed Whipple shielding with the same areal density within the scope of this paper tests. Theprotection property of woven of basalt fabric coated by epoxy resin adhesivestuffed Whipple shielding with bumpers laid in even space was better than withbumpers laid together, woven of basalt fabric coated by epoxy resinadhesive/aluminum sheet stuffed Whipple shielding, and Nextel/Kevlar stuffedWhipple shielding with the same areal density within the scope of this paper tests.The analysis results showed that the reinforce mechanismes of woven of basaltfabric used as the stuffed bumpers in the shielding were that woven of basalt fabricbumpers intercept and break the second debris cloud, and lower the velocity of thesecond debris cloud to reduce the damage of the rear wall, in addition, woven ofbasalt fabric bumpers are also breaked and carbonized to reduce the damage of therear wall caused by themselves as debris.Woven of basalt fabric is advanced fiber material with high-strength and highmodulus,and has evident advantages of protection against hypervelocity impactfrom space debris. The research on hypervelocity impact dynamic behaviorproperties and mechanisms to obtain the hypervelocity impact test data of woven ofbasalt fabric provided scientific basis for using this kind of high-strength fibermaterial in astronautical engineering and especially in the field of protectionengineering from space debris, and provided valuable reference for developing thedomestic protection material and new space debris shielding configuration withexcellent properties against hypervelocity impact.