Manufacturing & Prototyping

Running-Shoe Material Inspires 3D-Printed Building Protection

A material used in running shoes and memory foam could help protect buildings from collision damage and other high impact forces.

“Rather than flattening when stretched or bulging when compressed, auxetic materials expand or contract in all directions at once, which makes them highly energy-absorbent and load resistant,” said Dr Tatheer Zahra , from the QUT Centre for Materials Science and QUT School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.