PREVIOUS GAS GUN EXPERIMENTS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT THE EROSION MASS LOSS RATIO CAN EXHIBIT LOW DEPENDENCY ON IMPACT VELOCITY, IF PARTICLE NUMBER DENSITY IS HIGH.

PREVIOUS GAS GUN EXPERIMENTS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT THE EROSION MASS LOSS RATIO CAN EXHIBIT LOW DEPENDENCY ON IMPACT VELOCITY, IF PARTICLE NUMBER DENSITY IS HIGH. IN SEPARATE TESTS, ALUMINUM TARGETS RESPONDED WITH LARGE AREA INCIPIENT PUNCTURE RATHER THAN INTENSE EROSION, WHEN SUBJECTED TO HIGH PARTICLE NUMBER DENSITY ENVIRONMENTS. IN MULTIBURST CLOUDS OF INTEREST, THESE PHENOMENA OF DEBRIS SHIELDING AND SHOCK-LIKE DAMAGE MAY OCCUR. IN EITHER CASE, NOSETIP MATERIALS, PARTICULARLY SUBTIP DESIGNS, MAY SURVIVE ENVIRONMENTS IN WHICH DUST EROSION MODELS WOULD PREDICT SIGNIFICANT AND UNACCEPTABLE SHARP CHANGE. A SERIES OF LIGHT GAS GUN EXPERIMENTS WILL BE PERFORMED TO EXPLORE THE PHENOMENA OF EROSION/DEBRIS SHIELDING/TARGET SHOCK DAMAGE FOR COMBINATIONS OF VELOCITY AND SIMULATED DUST CLOUD DENSITY.