MC
Marks & Clerk
More
Marks & Clerk is one of the UK’s foremost firms of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys. Our attorneys and solicitors are wired directly into the UK’s leading business and innovation economies. Alongside this we have offices in 9 international locations covering the EU, Canada and Asia, meaning we offer clients the best possible service locally, nationally and internationally.
A collaboration between researchers at Texas A&M University and the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory…
United Kingdom
Intellectual Property
To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.
Article Insights
Peter Youle’s articles from Marks & Clerk are most popular:
within Intellectual Property topic(s)
in United Kingdom
with readers working within the Business & Consumer Services industries
A collaboration between researchers at Texas A&M University
and the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory has produced novel
composite ‘super foams’ using “In-Foam Additive
Manufacturing” – IFAM.
The super foams enhance conventional open-cell foams by
incorporating elastomeric ‘struts’ throughout, these
elements acting in synergy in the resulting composite to better
absorb and disperse energy.
In IFAM, the porous foam acts as a host in which the elastomer
is formed. Elastomer precursors are introduced to the foam via a
computer-guided needle, resulting in accurate, reproducible strut
placement and high interaction between the foam and the struts.
IFAM allows the properties of the super foams to be easily
customisable by controlling the size, orientation, and number of
the struts. This allows for optimising of the super foams for
diverse applications ranging from sound proofing to protective
equipment to upholstery.
“[In-Foam Additive Manufacturing] is a simple,
computer-driven manufacturing process that allows us to build an
elastomeric skeleton inside of a conventional open-cell foam”
– Dr Eric Wetzel, ARL
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.