Today let us show an application to those who did not come to visit us at MECSPE: a monolithic back protector made of flexible material thanks to the considerable printing volume of the FFF Fabbrix® ELEMENTO v2.1 3D printer.
Taking inspiration from the geometries present in nature, this back protector has a modular structure whose elements form an auxetic pattern. The peculiarity of these materials consists in the ability to expand and contract in all directions simultaneously, thus increasing the energy absorption capacity in the impact area.
In addition to facilitating the dissipation of energy, this functional geometry offers other no less important advantages, such as lightness, breathability and adaptability to the human body.
The wide availability of thermoplastic elastomers in the range of manufacturers such as KIMYA and BASF, combined with the use of functional geometries, can give life to infinite products with different characteristics and performances, by simply intervening on the design parameters and the choice of materials.
The enormous potential of large format 3D printing and the multiplicity of flexible materials that can be processed by Fabbrix® ELEMENTO v2.1 open the door to a new way of conceiving protections:
✔️tailored
✔️customizable
✔️on-demand
