Experimental investigation of space effect on damage of aluminum dual-wall structure by hypervelocity impact

In order to study the damage characteristics of spacecraft protection structure by hypervelocity impact of space debris, a non-powder two-stage light gas gun was used to launch Al-sphere projectiles to impact the aluminum dual-wall structure. The sphere diameter was 3.97 mm, the impact velocities were (2.58 ± 0.08) km/s, (3.54 ± 0.25) km/s and (4.35 ± 0.11) km/s respectively. The spaces between bumper and rear wall were in the range of 10 mm to 100 mm. Damage modes on the rear wall of aluminum dual-wall structure in different impact velocity ranges were obtained by experiments. The results show that the crater distribution on the rear wall varies with different spaces between bumper and rear wall when the impact velocity is a constant. With the increasing space between bumper and rear wall, the spray area on the back of bumper and the cratered area on the rear wall increase, and the diffusivity of crater distribution on the rear wall decrease.