Running shoe materials inspire 3D printing design to protect buildings from impact damage

A material used in running shoes and memory foam pillows inspired a3D printingProduct design, it can help protect
architecture
The object is protected from collision damage and other high impact forces, that is, a vehicle traveling at a speed of 60 km/h
car
.

Dr. Tatheer Zahra from the Materials Science Centre of the University of Queensland and the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
biology
Plastic to print 3-D geometric shapes, imitating the behavior of auxiliary materials.
Auxiliary materials will not flatten when stretched, and will not bulge when compressed, but expand or contract simultaneously in all directions, which gives them a high degree of energy absorption and load resistance.

However, the existing commercial auxiliary materials are expensive and cannot be bought locally, so the doctor designed geometric shapes that can achieve the same behavior.
Dr. Zahra said,3D printingThe auxiliary geometry may replace the steel and fiber-reinforced polymer mesh reinforcement in composite materials, and it can also be used as a flexible and widely applicable protective wall.
The energy absorption function is equivalent to installing a 20mm thick reinforced composite protective layer on a complete building wall, which can resist the impact of a car traveling at a speed of 60 km/h.

Not only that, the doctor said, the protection of masonry walls is particularly important because it is an important part of most commercial and residential buildings. Masonry is a very cheap material. It has better fire resistance than wood or steel, but its mortar joints will weaken the overall structural strength. If the auxiliary geometry is embedded in the mortar to make a protective composite material, it can also extend the life of the structure.

After laboratory-scale verification, Dr. Zahra’s current goal is to test these designs on the full-scale masonry and concrete structures of the QUT Banyo pilot plant.
3D printingIt will also allow us to change the design of materials, dimensions or geometric shapes to suit different structures and load requirements. In addition, bioplastics provide a more sustainable low-carbon alternative to fiber-reinforced plastics or other non-biodegradable polymers. This is also more cost-effective than using existing accessory fabrics, because the price of accessory fabrics can be as high as US$400 per square meter and is not biodegradable.

The research paper is entitled “Behaviour of 3D Printed Re-entrant Chiral Auxetic (RCA) Geometries under In-Plane and Out-of-Plane Loadings” and has been published in the journal Smart Materials and Structures. The main author is Tatheer Zahra.

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