Characterization of Multiple Debris Cloud Impacts-Induced Pitting Damage Evolution in Spacecraft Structures Using Temperature-Dependent Ultrasonic Nonlinearity

•Proposed an active NUWs-base evaluation method to improve the accuracy and reliability of pitting damage evaluation by controlling detection temperature (i.e., exploitation of the benign aspects of the temperature sensitivity of ultrasonic nonlinearity).•Gain an insight into the modulation mechanism of typical elastic parameters of material at macroscopic under varying temperature, as well as microscopic interatomic potential, via theoretical analysis.•Demonstrated capacity of proposed approach for in-depth, accurate and detailed characterization of debris cloud-induced pitting damage evolution, corroborating the theoretical prediction.•Use of a typical dual-layered Whipple shield for experimental validation, with results benefiting real-world space applications.