3D printed chain mail

This neck piece arose from a collaboration with the Daraio Research Group at Caltech. The researchers aim is finding mathematical solutions to create interlocking structures from polyhedrons or helixes that then are manufactuered into 3D printed chainmail (Wang, Yifan et al. 2021 Structured fabrics with tunable mechanical properties, Nature, volume 596, pp. 238–243, 2021). For this piece a four petal helix was selected.  It creates a chainmail that warps smoothly around shoulders, neck and back but prevents excessive twisting of the head, that might lead to fracture of the cervical spine. The final piece was SLS printed from biobased PA 11 nylon.