A team from Texas A&M University and the U.S. Army has presented a composite material with significantly greater energy absorption capacity. The development focuses on an additive manufacturing process that combines a 3D-printed structure with a base foam, resulting in a more efficient material for managing impacts. Its initial applications are in military equipment, but its scalability points to civilian uses in sports, automotive, and aeronautics.
The secret lies in Foam Additive Manufacturing (IFAM) 🧠
The key technology is the IFAM process, which integrates an elastic polymer network, 3D-printed and parametrically designed, within a matrix of common polymeric foam. This internal structure acts as a scaffold that interacts with the foam, redirecting and distributing compressive forces more uniformly. The synergy between both components allows dissipating impact energy through multiple mechanisms, achieving high performance without adding substantial weight to the final material.
Your next bike helmet might have more "architecture" than your house 🏗️
It's curious to think that the next time you put on a helmet, you'll have on your head a structural design more complex than that of some beams. While we rack our brains with renders, these materials have their own printed backbone working silently. Maybe it's time for helmets to come with a technical blueprint along with the size label, so we know what kind of structure we're sporting in the face of a possible impact with the ground.