Additively manufactured dual-faced structured fabric for shape-adaptive protection

• Main Authors: Tian, Yuanyuan, Chen, Kaijuan, Zheng, Han, Kripalani, Devesh Raju, Zeng, Zhuohong, Jarlöv, Asker, Chen, Jiayao, Bai, Lichun, Ong, Adrian, Du, Hejun, Kang, Guozheng, Fang, Qihong, Zhao, Lihua, Qi, H. Jerry, Wang, Yifan, Zhou, Kun
• Other Authors: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Engineering::Mechanical engineering; Additive Manufacturing; Deformation Recovery
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/169264
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Fabric-based materials have demonstrated promise for high-performance wearable applications but are currently restricted by their deficient mechanical properties. Here, this work leverages the design freedom offered by additive manufacturing and a novel interlocking pattern to for the first time fabricate a dual-faced chain mail structure consisting of 3D re-entrant unit cells. The flexible structured fabric demonstrates high specific energy absorption and specific strength of up to 1530 J kg-1 and 5900 Nm kg-1 , respectively, together with an excellent recovery ratio of ≈80%, thereby overcoming the strength-recoverability trade-off. The designed dual-faced structured fabric compares favorably against a wide range of materials proposed for wearable applications, attributed to the synergetic strengthening of the energy-absorbing re-entrant unit cells and their unique topological interlocking. This work advocates the combined design of energy-absorbing unit cells and their interlocking to extend the application prospects of fabric-based materials to shape-adaptive protection.