Morphology of craters generated by hypervelocity impacts of micron-sized polypyrrole-coated olivine particles

Y W Li, S Bugiel, M Trieloff, Jon K Hillier, F Postberg, M C Price, A Shu, K Fiege, L A Fielding, S P Armes, Y Y Wu, E Gruen, R Srama

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    To understand the process of cosmic dust particle impacts and translate crater morphology on smoothed metallic surfaces to dust properties, correct calibration of the experimental impact data is needed. This article presents the results of studies of crater morphology generated by impacts using micron-sized polypyrrole (PPy)-coated olivine particles. The particles were accelerated by an electrostatic dust accelerator to high speeds before they impacted onto polished aluminum targets. The projectile diameter and velocity ranges were 0.3-1.2 mu m and 3-7 km s(-1). After impact, stereopair images of the craters were taken using scanning electron microscope and 3-D reconstructions made to provide diameter and depth measurements. In this study, not just the dimensions of crater diameters and depths, but also the shape and dimensions of crater lips were analyzed. The craters created by the coated olivine projectiles are shown to have complicated shapes believed to be due to the nonspherical shape of the projectiles.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1375-1387
    Number of pages13
    JournalMeteoritics & Planetary Science
    Volume49
    Issue number8
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Morphology of craters generated by hypervelocity impacts of micron-sized polypyrrole-coated olivine particles'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this