Auxetic foam is one – it expands as it’s stretched and shrinks when compressed, offering much more effective cushioning than regular foams. It has myriad other uses too, so when a proprietary method of making this revolutionary foam was developed at Florida State University (FSU), the potential was huge. “You have to buy regular foam and then convert it, so it can’t compete with commodity foam,” said Joe Condon. In the medical devices field, for example, they’ve developed pad systems for a hinged ankle brace, the Tayco brace, in conjunction with Notre Dame University. “Our auxetic foam pad system successfully achieved the Army’s challenge of a 100% increase in impact attenuation performance over existing solutions,” said Condon.

Source: Forbes May 24, 2019 16:53 UTC