Perforation Characteristics of Energetic Material Shield Induced by Hypervelocity Impact of Spherical Projectile

The metastable energetic materials were prepared for the space debris shield. Hypervelocity impact tests of PTFE/Al energetic material shield under the conditions of different areal densities, projectile diameters, and impact velocities were conducted by using two-stage light gas gun, and the high speed photographs and the signals from optical pyrometer during impacting were obtained. The analysis results show that the shock initiation of PTFE/Al energetic material shield occurs in the instant of hypervelocity impact, and the perforation process can be divided into three stages: shock detonation, fracture and deflagration, and zero reaction and crushing. A dimensionless empirical expression for perforation diameter of PTFE/Al shield is established based on the experimental results of hypervelocity impact. The effect of ambient temperature on the perforation characteristics of energetic material shield is investigated.