Abstract:
Shields of high strength fiber materials are often developed to protect spacecraft against space debris impact. The damage analysis of a projectile’s hypervelocity impact on the target plate woven by high strength fiber materials is a key issue in the design of the space debris shielding. Basalt fiber is one of the high strength and high modulus materials that has attracted much attention in recent years. The damage caused by aluminum projectile impacting on basalt fiber weave at hypervelocity is studied. The damage zones on the front surface of the projectiles were observed. The threshold fragmentation velocity of the aluminum projectile can be calculated from hypervelocity impact data. It shows that the threshold fragmentation velocity of the aluminum projectiles impacting on the basalt fiber weave is lower than that on aluminum plates, and the ability of the basalt fiber weave to break the aluminum projectiles is better than that of aluminum plates.