Pellet 3D Printing Cuts Helmet Component Weight
Protective gear components printed via pellet 3D printing weigh 30 percent less than injection-molded parts while matching impact absorption, 3dnatives reported.
French additive manufacturing firm Pollen AM and polymer specialist RHEON Labs qualified the RHEON P3D 001 cushioning material on the Pam Pro pellet 3D printer. The companies integrated the resulting internal protective elements into a Xenith Shadow XR American football helmet, targeting high-impact sports equipment.
Injection Molding Imposes Tooling Costs and Design Constraints
Traditional manufacturing relies on injection molding for these helmet components, requiring batches between 5,000 and 10,000 units. Tooling expenses can reach 150,000 euros, with delivery timelines stretching up to three months before production begins.
Injection molds force strict design rules such as uniform wall thickness, draft angles, and minimal undercuts. These physical constraints make internal lattice structures or variable mechanical properties within a single component difficult to produce.
3D Printing Enables Variable Material Stiffness and Geometry
The RHEON P3D 001 material reacts to strain rate by changing stiffness depending on the speed of deformation. The raw polymer stays soft and flexible during regular wear before hardening instantly under impact forces to absorb energy.
Pellet-based 3D printing bypasses traditional mold geometries by allowing variable cell shapes, wall thicknesses, and lattice densities. Engineers calibrate impact response zone by zone across the protective padding without requiring secondary post-processing steps.
Printed Components Reduce Mass While Maintaining Energy Dissipation
RHEON Labs tested the 3D-printed parts against injection-molded counterparts across various impact energy levels. Laboratory measurements confirmed the printed components dropped mass by 30 percent while maintaining equivalent or superior energy dissipation.
“Sport is one of the most demanding environments for a material: components must protect, flex and remain light, and brands want them faster,” Pollen AM co-founder and president Victor Roux stated in the announcement. “Our goal is to bring a larger number of material manufacturers onto the platform, so that brands and manufacturers can transition more rapidly from a new material to the finished component.”
Expansion Into Motorcycle and Defense Sectors
Both companies view the initial NFL helmet integration as a baseline for wider applications across motorcycle gear, cycling equipment, and defense protection. The manufacturing approach addresses industries where impact mitigation and rapid prototyping timelines drive development costs.
“This collaboration demonstrates how advanced materials and additive manufacturing can work in synergy to open new possibilities for protective gear,” RHEON Labs CSO Dr. Sarah Karmel noted regarding the technical validation. “Combining the dynamic material technology of RHEON Labs with pellet 3D printing, we are making faster development, greater design freedom and application-specific performance possible.”
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