标题: 30% Lighter Than Injection-Molded Parts, No Tooling: Pellet-Printed Cushion for an American Football Helmet [打印本页] 作者: admin 时间: 2026-11-12 10:35 标题: 30% Lighter Than Injection-Molded Parts, No Tooling: Pellet-Printed Cushion for an American Football Helmet Nanjixiong's introduction: Small helmet-cushion components are traditionally injection molded. The cost of a mold makes sense only at sufficient volumes; small batches or a design change may require a new mold. French pellet-printer maker Pollen AM and impact-material specialist RHEON Labs are testing another approach: directly 3D-printing cushioning parts from pellets, with material costs close to injection molding and lower weight. Could sports-protection components be an application niche for pellet extrusion?
On November 10, 2026, Nanjixiong learned from 3Dnatives that Pollen AM and RHEON Labs had completed process validation for RHEON™ P3D 001 damping material on Pollen AM's Pam Pro pellet printer. The printed protective part was installed in a Xenith Shadow XR American-football helmet, which already uses RHEON material, for its first real-world test in an NFL setting.
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△ Blue 3D-printed protective component inside a transparent Xenith Shadow XR helmet (image: RHEON Labs)
Cushioning component is 30% lighter than injection-molded part without sacrificing impact absorption
The companies compared the printed component with an injection-molded part of similar geometry. The printed part weighed 30% less. Energy transfer measured under low- and high-energy impacts showed damping performance at least comparable to the molded part, and better under some impact conditions.
RHEON P3D 001 is a strain-rate-sensitive material: it is soft and flexible when worn, but stiffens and absorbs energy at the instant of impact. This response is inherent to the material and does not require post-processing or secondary operations.
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△ Close-up of the blue lattice cushion, whose internal grid can be tuned by zone (image: RHEON Labs)
Tooling costs have long been unavoidable with injection molding
Most sports-helmet protective components are currently injection molded. Figures cited in this case include:
- Typical production volume of 5,000–10,000 helmets.
- One helmet can contain 1–12 protective components.
- A mold can cost up to EUR 150,000 and take up to three months to deliver.
- Tooling imposes design constraints, including draft angles, uniform wall thickness, and minimal undercuts. Internal lattices and locally varying mechanical performance within one part are difficult to achieve.
Cushioning parts are often geometrically complex and depend on internal lattices to absorb energy. Injection molding can reduce unit costs, but only when volumes are stable and designs change little. Lower volumes or the need to tune performance by zone make mold costs and lead times a burden.
Direct pellet printing keeps material cost close to injection molding
Pellet extrusion uses the same raw material pellets as injection molding, keeping material costs close while avoiding tooling. During printing, lattice density, cell geometry, and wall thickness can be adjusted in different helmet zones to tune impact response locally.
For this collaboration, Pollen AM adapted process parameters previously used with RHEON on other pellet printers to the Pam Pro. Both partners regard the validated print parameters as a key technical outcome of the collaboration.
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△ Pellet feedstock (left) and Pollen AM Pam Pro pellet printer (right) (image: Pollen AM)
Next: motorcycle, bicycle, and defense protective equipment
The partners consider this validation a starting point and are looking at protective equipment for motorcycles, bicycles, and defense, where impact damping, cost, and delivery time also matter.
Pollen AM co-founder and president Victor Roux said sports applications demand a great deal from materials: parts must protect, remain flexible, be lightweight, and reach brands quickly. The collaboration demonstrates what an open pellet process combined with advanced materials can achieve. The aim is to bring more material suppliers onto the platform and shorten the path from new material to finished part.
RHEON Labs Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Sarah Karmel said combining advanced materials and additive manufacturing can accelerate development, expand design freedom, and deliver performance tailored to applications.
The companies plan to share the full results in an online seminar on November 25, 2026. Pollen AM will also exhibit at Formnext 2026 in Frankfurt, Hall 12.1, Booth A78.
Nanjixiong's view
Pellet extrusion has often been presented as a way to make large parts and reduce material costs. This helmet case points to another niche: functional small parts with moderate production volumes that need low weight and locally tuned performance may suit pellet 3D printing.
However, the work remains at the stage of material/process validation and case studies, and is still some distance from volume supply to helmet makers. The economics of tooling must ultimately be assessed against production volume, design-iteration rate, and yield. A 30% weight reduction alone is not enough to determine whether this approach can scale in protective equipment.
AI-translated from an article by Kuaixiong on Nanjixiong, originally published on 2026-11-11. Text and images retain the original source attribution. Read the original Chinese article
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