Hole growth characterisation for hypervelocity impacts in thin targets

Interpretation of the flux data of hypervelocity impact craters and perforations from recovered metallic satellite surfaces (such as from NASA's LDEF and ESA's Eureca) is primarily directed towards the derivation of particle diameters. This requires careful calibration, especially in the transition region near to marginal perforation for targets of finite thickness. This calibration is usually in the form of a ''hole growth equation''. Although several thin foil formulae exist and many thick target formulae, the only established equation which attempts to interpret near marginal impacts does not seek to interpret impacts where the perforation is smaller than the foil thickness. In this work intuitive trends are used to select an appropriate mathematical form for a new equation, after which hypervelocity impact data on thin foils are used for defining the parameters. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.