The presentation was given by Dr Dan Plant who is the Founder and MD of Armourgel, Imperial College. He began by giving an insight into the technology behind Armourgel
- which is an energy absorbing material based around the synergy between a shear thickening fluid and a re-entrant or auxetic geometry. It is breathable, up to four times thinner, and more flexible than existing products. This revolutionary energy absorbing material stiffens upon impact to provide protection, but will flex with the musculature of the body when protection is not required, thus combining safety with comfort. Dan passed round an array of the different products including a helmet, gloves and clothing, predominantly used in down hill cycling.
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We learnt about the different applications including military use and medical use, specifically garments incorporating hip protection to prevent hip fractures in the elderly:
After the presentation concluded, there was a lively Q&A session, with lots of excellent questions from an engaged audience, and a plethora of suggestions for Dan and his team for applications in the future!!
Although not mentioned during the talk, I recently discovered that SEMTA included Dan in the nominations for their Engineering Hall of Fame 2015 – of top five British engineers !
