Architected impact-protection materials
Soft when you wear it. Stiff when it counts.
Auxet designs 3D-printed pads made of interlinked particles. In normal wear they drape and conform like fabric; under impact they lock together, stiffen, and absorb energy.
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Most protective padding today is foam. Foam conforms and cushions, but its response is fixed when it is molded and changes with temperature.
Auxet's materials are built from discrete particles that are linked to their neighbors, like three-dimensional chain mail, but never fused together. Because the particles can move within their links, a pad is flexible at small deformations. Under a hard hit, the links engage, the particles jam into load-bearing chains, and friction and particle deformation dissipate the energy.
The particle shapes, how they are linked, the clearance between them, and the material of each particle are all design variables, so the soft-to-stiff transition can be tuned to the application. The parts are 3D-printed fully assembled, with every link free to move.
How we work
- Design. In-house software generates candidate particle networks and verifies that every link is interlocked and every gap is printable.
- Simulate. Particle-scale and finite-element models predict conformability, stiffening, and impact response before anything is printed.
- Print. Multi-material additive manufacturing combines rigid and elastomeric particles in a single pad.
- Test. Compression, shear, drape, and impact testing against conventional foam pads.
Patent pending.
Applications
Helmet pads
Suspension pads that fit like a soft liner but arrest an impact like a tuned crush structure.
Knee and elbow pads
Protection that moves with the joint during kneeling and crawling, then locks under a hard impact.
Sports and industrial protection
Liners and pads for sports equipment, workplace safety gear, and shock mounts for sensitive equipment.
Capabilities
- Architected-material design and topology verification
- Discrete-element and finite-element simulation of impact and energy absorption
- Multi-material additive manufacturing and prototype fabrication
- Mechanical test planning and data analysis
- Company
- Auxet LLC, Los Angeles, California
- Business type
- Small business
- NAICS
- 541715 (R&D in engineering and physical sciences), 339113
- UEI
- Z427JFFV7G88
Team
Brian Salazar, Ph.D.
Owner and Principal Engineer
Dr. Salazar leads Auxet's engineering research and development, including its design and simulation software for linked-particle materials. His work centers on lattice materials and advanced manufacturing, including 3D printing. At UC Berkeley he developed lattice structures that turn brittle concrete into a ductile, energy-absorbing composite, and his doctoral research developed contact models for polishing pads. He has taught manufacturing and design communication as a lecturer in UC Berkeley's Department of Mechanical Engineering.
B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley.
Contact
For partnerships, prototyping, or testing collaborations:
Auxet LLC, Los Angeles, California