SBIR-STTR Award

In the proposed SBIR project Akita Innovations and Adaptive 3D will develop feedstock materials and methods for the additive manufacture of soft elastomers that exhibit resistance to the permeation of chemical agents.The goal of the effort is to produce a fully functional Air Purifying Respirator (APR) and to demonstrate advantages of additive manufacturing to provide innovations such as custom sizing.To realize this vision for air-purifying respirators AM must be able to manufacture soft elastomers that are resistant to the permeation of chemical agents. Our Technical Approach in Phase 1 will leverage elastomeric materials being commercialized by Adaptive 3D and innovative labile crosslinking monomer technology being developed at Akita Innovations.

The principal benefit of this project will be the development of materials, processes and designs for the additive manufacture of air purifying respirators. Additive manufacture allows mass personalization of existing systems. For respirators, that design is the unique size and facial structure of each individual warfighter. The ability to personalize respirator design to each unique warfighter will improve the performance of air purifying respirators. In addition to allowing personalization of individual respirators, additive manufacture will reduce the cost and logistical burden thanks to just-in-time manufacturing. In a broader sense, this project will contribute to the development of optimized elastomeric materials for additive manufacture which currently do not exist.