Impact of thin aluminum sheets with aluminum spheres up to 9 km/s

The results of further development of the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI), three-stage, light-gas gun and impact test data are presented. We have successfully launched 2.38-mm-diameter aluminum spheres to velocities in excess of 9 km/s with no damage to the launcher components. The results of several tests in which 2.38-mm-diameter aluminum spheres impacted thin aluminum sheets at velocities up to 9.10 km/s are presented. Quantitative data obtained from these tests were used to extend previously established relationships to velocities which are typical of the collisions of orbital debris with spacecraft. These test results include: bumper-sheet hole diameter as a function of impact velocity; determination of the fragmentation-initiation-threshold velocity for spheres impacting very thin sheets; and continued demonstration of the “scalability” of the test results using the bumper-thickness-to-projectile-diameter ratio (t/D) as the scaling factor.