Scientists make first non-metallic chainmail from 3D architected materials. Here’s how it works

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a chainmail out of materials synthesized via 3D architecture.

News of the groundbreaking discovery first appeared on Instagram on 22 January, where the researchers explained how the technology works.

Known as polycatenated architected materials (PAM), the matter is neither crystalline nor granular, but adapts to pressure and other environments to serve in different states as the situation demands, making it suitable for different uses.

Different applications

PAMs are a breakthrough in technology that can be used in different areas of human endeavor, including making of biomedical devices and robotics.

Because of its ability to form a strong mesh resembling the traditional metallic mesh, it also serves as a good protective material for helmets and other protective gear.

The material is made up of a variety of shapes linked together to form three-dimensional patterns with unlimited configurations. 

With 3D rendering, PAMs exhibit characteristics not found in any other material so far. They are therefore valuable for use in any area where cushioning or stabilization is required. 

The discovery was made from the Caltech lab of Bradford Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics, Chiara Daraio, G.

Describing PAMs, a postdoctoral scholar and research associate in mechanical and civil engineering working in Daraio’s lab said:

“Imagine applying a shear stress to water. There would be zero resistance. Because PAMs have all these coordinated degrees of freedom, with the rings and cages they are composed of sliding against one another as the links of a chain would, many have very little shear resistance.” 

Significant breakthrough in engineering

Engineers have over the years come to believe in the crystalline or granular nature of matter, as well as matter being liquid or solid.

PAMs defy these categorizations and break barriers to function in any way as the need arises. This is therefore a discovery that has opened the gate to a wide number of possibilities in engineering.