You may not notice it, but foam is everywhere—inside cushions, helmets, even car bumpers. A team at UT Dallas is reinventing it.

Blending chemistry and technology, researchers have developed a 3D-printed foam that’s stronger, more flexible, and—unlike the polymer foam found in many everyday products—recyclable.

“This is probably the longest project I’ve ever done,” said UT Dallas doctoral student Rebecca Johnson, who plans to complete her Ph.D. in chemistry in May. “From start to finish, it was a little over two years. A lot of it was trying to get the polymer formulation correct to be compatible with the 3D printer.”

The research, published in the March 1 print edition of RSC Applied Polymers, a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, focuses on designing a sturdy yet lightweight foam that can be 3D-printed. Johnson noted that while making new materials for 3D printing is challenging, the process enabled the team to create customized, complex shapes. 

[Photo: UT Dallas]

Highly flexible material offers broader applications

To demonstrate the proof-of-concept, the researchers produced foam in the shape of a balloon dog.

“The goal of the project was to address some limitations in 3D printing in terms of making polymer foam,” said Dr. Ron Smaldone, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry in UTD’s School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and corresponding author of the study. “One of the main uses, or interests, for 3D-printable foams is insulation and shock absorption.”

Smaldone said the foam could one day be used in high-impact products such as motorcycle or football helmets, car bumpers, or armor. 3D printing also enables finer lattice structures, increasing the flexibility and versatility of the material.

UT Dallas said the researchers also studied how to produce foam that prints consistently without defects. Most commercial foam is thermoset—once formed, it can’t be reshaped or melted, making it non-recyclable and landfill-bound.

Using dynamic covalent chemistry, the team developed foam with reversible bonds. While the material can’t be remelted like plastic, it can repair itself when damaged, making it more versatile and longer-lasting.

“We’re certainly not the only ones trying to do this,” Smaldone said. “The novelty is using dynamic chemistry to print really great foam material. The next question to address will be, how do we tune the properties and use this new kind of knowledge to fit a variety of different needs?”

From left: Chemistry doctoral students Ariel Tolfree and Rebecca Johnson teamed up with Ron Smaldone, IT Dallas associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, to create a next-generation 3D-printed foam—lightweight, flexible, and built for impact. [Photo: UT Dallas]

From lab to sustainability potential

Johnson and co-lead author Ariel Tolfree, also a doctoral student in chemistry, built on earlier research in the field. Tolfree credits Johnson as her mentor and said she hopes to advance the work by making the foam more recyclable and studying its sustainability.

“It’s a simple shape but perfectly represents our foams,” Tolfree said of the balloon dog. “A balloon seems ordinary until it’s twisted into something new, almost defying expectations. Our foams are the same—unassuming at first, but once expanded and transformed, they become something remarkable.”

A team effort backed by national support

Additional UT Dallas co-authors of the study are mechanical engineering doctoral student Gustavo Felicio Perruci; chemistry doctoral students Lyndsay Ayers and Niyati Arora; chemistry senior Emma Liu; Vijayalakshmi Ganesh, and Dr. Hongbing Lu, professor of mechanical engineering and the Louis Beecherl Jr. Chair in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science.

The research was funded by The Welch Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy.

Quincy Preston contributed to this report.

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