Analysis of Impact Properties of Nanocomposites at Micron Scale

With the increasing number of human activities in space, spacecraft are facing harsh environmental conditions. Space debris is one of the most serious problems that can cause severe structural damage to spacecraft and create new debris during impact. Researchers have found that nanomaterials have high strength, high modulus, and excellent performance. Therefore, applying nanomaterials to spacecraft protective structures is a feasible method. This paper adopts the SPH numerical simulation method to explore the impact resistance characteristics of spacecraft protective materials under high-speed impact by space debris at the micron scale. The impact characteristics during impact are considertableed, and the deformation and damage of spacecraft during impact are analyzed. The simulation results show that the specific impact energy decreases with the increase of target thickness under the condition of the same initial velocity and radius. The reason why the specific impact energy is abnormal at the microscopic scale is that the smaller the thickness of the target is, the smaller the fragments will be, which will lead to an increase in the total fracture surface area of the target fragments and a higher energy absorbed by the target per unit mass.