Abstract
CFRP is being used as a material for primary structures in the field of spacecraft. However, a huge quantity of debris exists in the space near the earth. Since there are a lot of chances that debris collides with the composite material of a spacecraft structure, a future spacecraft design requires data on the damage development in CFRP structure. Furthermore, the collision effect on strength reduction should be known. Therefore, this study conducted hypervelocity impact tests for CFRP plates which imitated the collision of debris in the space. As a result, a specific relation between debris kinetic energy and the failure area in CFRP was obtained. Then, the residual compressive strength of a CFRP plate was investigated after a hypervelocity impact test, and a relationship between the kinetic energy and the residual strength were also clarified. Moreover, a hypervelocity impact test of a composite material was simulated by the use of commercial software, AUTODYN. In comparing simulation results with test results, a simple simulation conducted in this study demonstrated to be very effective in understanding the damage development with a hypervelocity impact.
