3D Printing 'Smarter' Foam Materials at the Micro Scale

Foams are, by nature, disordered materials studded with air pockets of varying sizes. Lack of control over the material's architecture at the micrometer or nanometer scale can make it difficult to adjust the foam's basic properties. Now, Eric Duoss and a team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers are using additive manufacturing to develop 'smarter' silicone cushions. By architecting the structure at the micro scale, they are able to control macro-scale properties previously unachievable with foam materials. The researchers are aiming to replace the foams currently in defense and aerospace applications.

Transcript

00:00:05 I am Eric DWIs I'm an engineer here at Lawrence cmore National Laboratory we can actually now 3D print or additively manufacture a uh structure at the micro scale to control the macroscale properties with really a level of precision and control that was previously unachievable with uh say stochastic or random foam materials so we're really looking at these as uh new

00:00:30 materials for mechanical energy absorption well it's amazing because uh Foams are everywhere and um while we're not looking to say replace styrofoam packing peanuts they have their place uh we're looking for uh replacing Foams in more higher-end high value ad applications so things like in defense and Aerospace things like higher-end consumer goods athletic wear Sporting

00:00:55 Goods as well as uh pack packaging and transportation applications really in terms of design space the sky is the limit here and that's why we're so excited about it