Bioinspired 3D printed scales for enhanced industrial gloves

仅在美国，每年就有数百万工人因手部受伤而被送往急诊室，其中30%的受伤工人使用的安全手套保护不足。理想的 ** 防护手套的要求是严格的。它们必须重量轻、柔韧和透气，它们必须能抵抗撕裂 ** 尖锐的穿刺和挤压。目前还没有一种安全手套能够同时满足这套 ** 规格。目前，大多数防护手套都是由浸有弹性体的纺织品制成的，这种材料可以抵抗轻微的撕裂，但对刺穿的保护效果很差。我们最初的Engage Grant** 探索了我们新的陶瓷生物启发规模设计与上级手套 ** 产品的可行性和性能。我们已经实现了为该项目设定的所有目标。凭借我们新的生物启发缩放手套 ** 战略，上级手套已经认识到新产品的潜力，这将破坏安全设备 ** 市场。然而，上级手套注意到由于手掌侧手指关节 ** 附近的过度僵硬导致灵活性下降。我们共同决定开始探索丙烯腈丁二烯 ** 苯乙烯（ABS）制成的天平，作为陶瓷的替代品。ABS是一种相对坚韧、坚固和刚性的聚合物。然而，它的柔韧性比我们一直使用的陶瓷高出 **~100倍，因此可以获得一定的柔韧性。此外，我们的3D打印机可以轻松创建刻度，这将为我们提供广泛的自由度来探索不同厚度，大小和排列的刻度。为了实现这一目标，我们建议（1）在上级手套的内衬材料上3D打印ABS** 刻度，（2）评价这些材料的抗尖锐穿刺性，以及 **（3）评价这些材料的柔韧性。拟议中的合作将为该技术的未来发展提供重要的指导方针，该项目产生的原型手套将代表迈向商业化的第一步。通过这个项目，上级手套不仅将获得新的和独特的知识，这些材料，它也将培训其工程师与新的知识和数据。拟议的 ** 项目预计将导致麦吉尔和上级手套之间的长期合作。

Hand injuries send millions of workers to the emergency room every year in the US only and in 30% of these**cases, injured workers were using safety gloves with insufficient protection. The requirements for ideal**protective gloves are stringent. They must be light weight, flexible and breathable, they must resist lacerations**sharp puncture and crushing. There is currently no safety glove that can simultaneously satisfy this set of**specifications. The majority of protective gloves are currently made of textiles impregnated with elastomers,**which can resist low force lacerations, but offer poor protection against piercing. Our original Engage Grant**explored the feasibility and performance of our new ceramic bioinspired scale designs with Superior Glove's**products. We have achieved all the objectives set for that project. With our new bioinspired scaled glove**strategy Superior Glove has recognized the potential for a new product that would disrupt the safety equipment**market. However, Superior Glove noted a decrease in dexterity due to excessive stiffness near the finger joints**on the palm side of the hand. We have jointly decided to start exploring scales made of acrylonitrile butadiene**styrene (ABS) as an alternative to ceramics. ABS is a relatively tough, strong and stiff polymer. It is however**~100 times more flexible than the ceramic we have been using so that some flexibility can be gained. In**addition, the scales can be easily created using our 3D printer, which will give us a wide latitude to explore**scales of different thickness, size and arrangement. To achieve this objective we propose to (1) 3D print ABS**scales on Superior Glove's liner materials, (2) evaluate the resistance to sharp puncture of these materials and**(3) evaluate the flexibility of these materials. The proposed collaboration will result in important guidelines for**the future development of the technology, and the prototype gloves emerging from this project will represent a**first step towards commercialization. Through this project Superior Glove will not only gain new and unique**knowledge in those materials, it will also train its engineers with new knowledge and data. The proposed**project is expected to lead to longer-term collaborations between McGill and Superior Glove.