Responsive 3D Printed Composites for Protective Applications

Responsive materials that change their properties depending on their environment could enable diverse new medical, wearable, and other devices with exceptional function and compact form factors. Shear-stiffening gels (SSG) can be flexible but harden in response to rapid impact. This could enable protective devices amongst other applications. However, SSG can be easily deformed under external force and cannot recover its original shape, which limits its potential applications. In this work, we develop a 3D-printed elastic shear-stiffening composite to achieve shear-stiffening behavior alongside shape recovery. We find that the composite displays good anti-impact properties better than pure SSG, as well as shape recoverability. We also describe initial results describing further applications for these structures enabled by complex 3D printed geometries.