SiC/Al复合缓冲屏材料制备及其空间碎片撞击损伤行为

Preparation and Impact Damage Behavior of SiC/Al Composite Bumper for Space Debris Shielding Application

为保障长期在轨航天器的安稳运行,提高防护构型应对微小空间碎片超高速撞击时的防护性能,需要对防护构型的缓冲屏材料进行优化和改进。通过在碳化硅多孔陶瓷预烧体中以压力熔渗方式制备了SiC/Al复合缓冲屏材料,利用二级轻气炮开展了SiC/Al缓冲屏防护构型的空间碎片超高速撞击试验,重点研究了SiC/Al缓冲屏材料的冲击破坏行为、二次碎片云结构特征以及二次碎片云对后墙撞击损伤规律。结果表明,相比传统铝合金缓冲屏,SiC/Al缓冲屏能够在初始超高速撞击过程中有效破碎空间碎片,形成颗粒更加细小和扩张更加充分的二次碎片云结构,从而有效地缓解了对后墙的撞击损伤。结合后墙撞击坑的SEM微观损伤形貌分析发现,随着空间碎片撞击速度的提高,发生了更为显著的液相二次碎片颗粒撞击现象,增强了防护构型在超高速撞击时的防护性能。

In order to ensure the safety and operation of long-term orbiting spacecraft,and to improve the protection performance of the shielding configuration in response to the hypervelocity impact of small space debris,it is necessary to optimize and improve the bumper materials.The SiC/Al composite bumper material was prepared by pressure infiltration in the SiC porous ceramic pre-sintered body,and the space debris hypervelocity impact experiment of the SiC/Al bumper configuration was carried out on a two-stage light-gas gun.The impact damage behavior of the SiC/Al bumper material,the structural characteristics of the secondary debris cloud,and the impact da mage feature of the rear wall were investigated.The results show that the SiC/Al bumper can break the space debris into smaller debris than traditional Al-alloy bumper did,and the expanded secondary debris cloud structure is formed behind the SiC/Al bumper,mitigating the impact damage to the rear wall effectively.Based on the SEM damage morphology analysis of the impact craters on the rear wall,with the increase of the impact velocity of space debris,a more significant impact phenomenon of secondary debris in the liquid phase occurs,and the protection performance of shielding configuration is enhanced accordingly.