In many martial arts novels, films and TV series, and even related games, there is a kind of magical defensive equipment called "soft armor". In the authors' descriptions, this equipment is made of gold thread and thousand-year-old vines, which can not only make it invulnerable to swords and spears, but also keep it warm.
In reality, there is no material in nature that can be both soft and woven into clothing that is impervious to knives and bullets and as hard as iron. Even the bulletproof vests that are currently widely used cannot achieve this property.
However, recently, foreign scientists have brought soft armor into the real world using a new material generated by 3D printing.
According to a recent materials science study published in the journal Nature on the 11th, researchers at Caltech, including Cheara Daralio, and their colleagues have designed a fabric made of interlocking 3D-printed polymer elements (rather than fabric) that can gradually switch between soft and hard shapes.
This means that the material can not only bear heavy loads, but also return to its hard state after being subjected to pressure.
According to reports, when in its natural state, this fabric is easily bent and can be draped over complex surfaces. When compressed, the interlocking particles of the fabric are squeezed together, making it about 25 times stiffer than in its loose state. The resulting structure has a maximum load-bearing capacity of more than 30 times its own weight.
Researchers believe that future reconfigurable fabrics need to conform to the human body or be able to be fixed after forming complex structures. The new characteristics of the 3D-printed "soft armor" achieved this time indicate a bright future for wearable reconfigurable structures, which will be used in various robotic and medical scenarios.
