Close Menu
CrafficCraffic
  • Home
  • News
    • Internet
    • Gaming
  • Tech
    • Hardware
    • Gaming Tech
    • Mobile Phones
    • Software
  • Science
    • Astronomy
    • Discoveries
    • Psychology
  • Entertainment
    • Anime
    • Reviews
    • Spotlight
    • WWE
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
CrafficCraffic
  • Home
  • News
    • Internet
    • Gaming
  • Tech
    • Hardware
    • Gaming Tech
    • Mobile Phones
    • Software
  • Science
    • Astronomy
    • Discoveries
    • Psychology
  • Entertainment
    • Anime
    • Reviews
    • Spotlight
    • WWE
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
CrafficCraffic
Home » This 3D printed Sci-Fi ‘Smart Fabric’ Stiffens On-Demand
News

This 3D printed Sci-Fi ‘Smart Fabric’ Stiffens On-Demand

Akash DinkarBy Akash DinkarAugust 14, 2021Updated:August 14, 2021No Comments3 Mins Read
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Reddit Telegram Email
This 3D printed Sci-Fi 'Smart Fabric' Stiffens On-Demand
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

A team of researchers at Caltech (along with scientists from NTU Singapore) has developed a new kind of sci-fi smart fabric that is soft and flexible but can be made rigid on-demand. This chain mail-looking material was made using 3D printing, from a nylon polymer and it is made up of hollow octahedrons. It was found that this 3D printed material becomes 25 times more rigid and can hold over 50 times its weight while it’s in a rigid state when sealed in a vacuum.

The new smart fabric has serious potential for various applications in multiple industries. It can be used in protective gear made for athletes to avoid head trauma and other injuries, also it can be used for creating exoskeletons to help people walk and handle objects with less impact on the body.

NASA, also suggested that this could also be used to provide support while an injury heals. Though this new 3D printed material or smart fabric seems to be quite a huge leap in the fabrics industry but trying it as a Batman’s cape for gliding through the air would turn out to be fatal.

3D-printed material
The 3D-printed chain-mail-like material, Credit: Nanyang Technological University

Chiara Daraio, professor of mechanical engineering at Caltech and also the author of the study on the material published in Nature earlier, said in a statement,

“We wanted to make materials that can change stiffness on command. We’d like to create a fabric that goes from soft and foldable to rigid and load-bearing in a controllable way.”

In the near future, the research team aims to improve the performance of the material they have created and investigate other methods of stiffening the fabric. Currently, stiffening is achieved by vacuum sealing the 3D printed material.

Nevertheless, researchers want to determine if they can stiffen the material using magnetism, electricity, or temperature changes in further research.

The study author Assistant Professor Wang Yifan said,


“Inspired by ancient chain mail armor, we used plastic hollow particles that are interlocked to enhance our tunable fabrics’ stiffness. To further increase the material’s stiffness and strength, we are now working on fabrics made from various metals including aluminum, which could be used for large-scale industrial applications requiring higher load capacity, such as bridges or buildings.”

As of now, only this much is known about this sci-fi smart fabric which can be seen for reference in the video below.

News Science Technology
Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Previous ArticleTatami Time Machine Blues Novel Gets An Anime Adaptation
Next Article Reddit rolls out new TikTok-like video feed for its users
Akash Dinkar

Related Posts

Gaming

God of War Ragnarok, Greatest of all time?

December 23, 2022
Psychology

What did Toxic Relationship Teach you?

April 18, 2022
Science

Which is the coldest city in the world?

March 12, 2022
Add A Comment

Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

At Craffic we ensure delivering quality content to our readers as they are giving us their precious time to engage with our content. And Craffic was a vision of a group of school friends and they've made it possible by learning the basics of strategies used in the media culture. ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎

Quick Access
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
© 2025 Craffic. Designed by StackX Solutions.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.