From lobster claws and fish scales to conch shells, humans have often been inspired by nature in the creation of protective gear.

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Recently, a team of researchers hailing from MIT, Virginia Tech, Harvard University, California State University Fullerton, and the Max Planck Institute of Colloids & Interfaces published a paper, titled “Bioinspired design of flexible armor based on chiton scales ,” about their work using multimaterial 3D printing and parametric computational modeling to create “a synthetic flexible scaled armor analogue” based on the scaled armors of chitons, a group of marine mollusks.

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“This approach allows us to conduct a quantitative evaluation of our chiton-inspired armor to assess its orientation-dependent flexibility and protection capabilities,” the researchers wrote in the abstract. Biological armor offers mechanical protection from the environment, which includes attacks from predators. Man-made armors use rigid structures for this protection, which the team […]

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