A Study of Hypervelocity Impact on 3DBC/SiC Composite Material Dual-Plate Armor

The dual-plate (or multi-layered) system, first suggested by Whipple in 1940', is a possible means of protecting spacecraft from micrometeoroid impacts. Dual plate armor consists of an outer (bumper) plate, a space, and an inner (catcher) plate. In this work, the bumper plates were SiC ceramic matrix composite reinforced with 3-D braiding fabric (3DBC/SiC) plates, which were comminuted at hypervelocity impacting, resulting in smaller fragments in debris clouds and less damage on catcher plates. Pure aluminum plates and LY12 aluminum plates were also used as bumper plates. But both of them couldn't comminute the projectile and caused severely damage on catcher plates. It is shown that 3DBC/SiC is an ideal material for protecting spacecraft.