3D Printed Manufacturing of Respiratory Protection

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.