Investigation into damage of aluminum multi-wall shield under hypervelocity projectiles impact

In order to study the hypervelocity impact of space debris on spacecraft through hypervelocity impact on aluminum alloy multi-wall structure, a two-stage light gas gun was used to launch 2017-T4 aluminum alloy sphere projectiles. The projectile diameters ranged from 2.74mm to 6.35mm and impact velocities ranged from 1.91km/s to 5.58km/s. Firstly, the advanced method of multi-wall shield resisting hypervelocity impacts from space debris was investigated, and the effect of amount and thickness of wall on shield performance was discussed. Finally, by regression analyzing of experiment data, the experience equations for forecasting the diameter of the penetration hole on the first wall and the diameter of the damaged area on the second wall of aluminum multi-wall shield under hypervelocity normal impact of Al-spheres were obtained. The results indicated that the performance of multi-wall shield with more amount of wall is excellent when area density is constant. At the same time, intensity of the first wall and protecting space play the important roles.