TRANSACTIONS OF THE JAPAN SOCIETY FOR AERONAUTICAL AND SPACE SCIENCES, SPACE TECHNOLOGY JAPAN
Online ISSN : 1347-3840
ISSN-L : 1347-3840
c) Materials and Structures
Micrometeoroid Impact Damage on Thin Ceramic Component for Interplanetary Probe
Yasuko MOTOYASHIKIDaisuke SHINDOKyoko OKUDAIRASunao HASEGAWAEiichi SATO
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2009 年 7 巻 ists26 号 p. Pc_25-Pc_30

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A new ceramic thruster for an interplanetary probe is currently under development. Monolithic silicon nitride (Si3N4) , which has good heat resistance and high fracture toughness among conventional structural ceramics, is a promising material for a high performance thruster. However ceramics are brittle compared to metallic materials. In order to evaluate reliability of the ceramic thruster as a space-use component, fracture behavior against micrometeoroid impacts was investigated. First the risk probability of the meteoroid impacts which may occur during a mission was estimated based on impact energy which may cause failure of the material. Second, damage of the silicon nitride ceramics by a possible micrometeoroid impact was investigated experimentally. Hypervelocity impact tests were carried out on the silicon nitride ceramic samples with a two-stage light-gas gun. Impacts at various velocities ranging from 1.0 km/s up to 4.5 km/s brought about three types of failure. However no shattering occurred by the hypervelocity impact with a possible energy. The experimental results together with the risk evaluation considering the flight mission conditions show that the Si3N4 ceramic thruster for the interplanetary probe would have no serious problems caused by a meteoroid impact during the flight mission even with local damage.

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© 2009 The Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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