Preliminary study on shielding performance of debris shield with the rear wall combining light materials and an aluminum plate. (February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xuezhong, Wen; Jie, Huang; Fawei, Ke; Lin, Jiang; Jin, Li; Qiang, Song; Sen, Liu
• Is Part Of: International journal of impact engineering. Volume 124(2019)
• Page Start: 31
• Page End: 36
• Publication Date: 2019-02
• Subjects: Space debris -- Hypervelocity impact -- Shield -- Light materials; Impact -- Periodicals; Shock (Mechanics) -- Periodicals; Impact -- Périodiques; Choc (Mécanique) -- Périodiques; Impact; Shock (Mechanics); Periodicals; 620.1125
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijimpeng.2018.10.006
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0734-743X

Abstract

Highlights: A new way was explore to promote the shielding performance of debris shield by changing the structure of rear wall in the shield. The rear combined wall consisted of a light material layer clung to an aluminum plate was proposed to instead a single aluminum wall with the same areal density. Three kinds of shields with rear combined wall were evaluated in hypervelocity impact tests. Damage on the rear walls was reduced obviously by protection of the light materials. Abstract: Several kinds of shields such as Whipple shield, stuffed shield and multiple-wall shield were developed to defend from orbital debris impacting on spacecraft. The shielding performance of these shields was improved notably by changing the properties of bumper or stuffed wall. This work focuses on a new way to improve shielding performance by using a combination of light material attached to a rear aluminum wall instead of a single aluminum wall with the same areal density. Hypervelocity impact tests were performed to evaluate the new shielding concepts using aluminum spherical projectiles with 5.0 mm diameter at impact velocity ranging from 4.62 km/s to 4.90 km/s. The targets were three kinds of shields (aerogel/fiberglass composite, wood plate, or polyurethane foam plate attached to the rear aluminum walls in the shields individually), and Whipple shield with the same areal density. Test results showed that the shielding performances of these three kinds of shields are better than that of Whipple shield, based on the reduced damage on the rear wall. The advantage of combined wall using light materials attached to an aluminum plate to replace a single aluminum plate in traditional shield was verified preliminarily, and a feasible way was put forward to improve the shielding performance of debris shield in this paper.