Under Pressure (2024)

Under Pressure – Voxel Materiality of 3D Printed Auxetics (2024)

Julia Sasse

3D printing is opening up exciting new possibilities for designing and manufacturing auxetic materials. Unlike regular materials, which shrink when pulled and expand when compressed, auxetic materials do the opposite—they expand when stretched and shrink when compressed. This unique behavior gives auxetics several useful properties, including better resistance to indentations, improved energy absorption, resistance to vibrations, and the ability to conform more easily to different shapes.

However, creating auxetic materials using traditional methods can be challenging, especially when working with just one material. Single-material designs often face limitations in performance because it’s hard to achieve the right balance between flexibility and rigidity. This is where multi-material 3D printing comes in. With this technique, it’s possible to print with both flexible and rigid materials at the same time. This allows for a cellular structure where the flexible material is placed in areas that need to bend or move, such as hinges, while the rigid material is used in parts that need strength, like supporting struts. The result is an auxetic material that is not only more durable, avoiding issues like buckling under pressure, but also more customizable in its mechanical properties.

This research goes even further by exploring the use of volumetric 3D modeling at the voxel level. A voxel is the smallest unit of a 3D object, similar to how a pixel is the smallest unit of a 2D image. By controlling the material on such a small scale—down to individual droplets during the 3D printing process—this approach enables the creation of materials with finely tuned gradients, meaning the material can gradually change its properties across the design. This level of control over the material’s structure and behavior opens up a wide range of design possibilities, allowing for materials with highly specific and adjustable characteristics.