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Sections of a titanium cube before and after foam infill (photo credits: Sara Tan\/RMIT).<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The team at RMIT University\u2019s Centre for Additive Manufacturing, led by principal researcher Dr. Jordan Noronha, solved the problem without sealing the structure. The researchers 3D-printed a titanium lattice structure with hollow struts, which they then filled with polyurethane foam.<\/strong> Water continues to flow freely between the struts but cannot flood the structure.<\/p> The foam consists of tiny closed cells that trap gas. This acts as a barrier distributed throughout the entire part. A conventional hollow float fills with water as soon as a crack appears. This lattice structure remained afloat despite cracks, broken bonds and even the fracture of an entire layer. It only sank after being completely crushed and compacted.<\/p>\n To predict whether an open structure will float, researchers proposed a new indicator: skeletal density.<\/strong> The standard calculation takes into account the part’s total volume, including its cavities. This space is occupied by water and does not contribute to buoyancy. Skeletal density considers only the elements that water cannot penetrate. These are the titanium<\/a> walls and the foam-sealed channels.<\/p>\n \u201cThis gives engineers a simple design rule: if the skeletal density is lower than that of the surrounding liquid, the structure will float \u2013 even when water flows through all its external openings,\u201d<\/em> Noronha said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n At the same overall density, the lattice part proved 70% stronger than stainless steel and high-density polyethylene<\/strong>. After two weeks of immersion in the seawater of Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne, it lost only 0.15% of its mass and less than 1% of its strength. Other samples floated in fresh water for more than two months.<\/p>\n Dr. Jordan Noronha holding a floating titanium sample (photo credit: Sara Tan\/RMIT).<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n However, these are short-term tests. Project leader Professor Ma Qian explains that the next steps involve manufacturing larger parts. The team will then evaluate their long-term performance under real-world marine and deep-water conditions. They have also considered applications outside the marine environment. By modifying the infill material, a similar structure could absorb energy, manage heat or control vibrations.<\/p>\n This work was conducted in collaboration with the Conservatoire national des arts et m\u00e9tiers (Cnam) and published in the journal Advanced Materials<\/em>. You can view the study here<\/a>.<\/p>\n What do you think of this 3D-printed floating titanium? Let us know in a comment below or on our LinkedIn<\/a> and Facebook<\/a> pages! Don\u2019t forget to sign up for our free weekly Newsletter here<\/a>, the latest 3D printing news straight to your inbox! You can also find all our videos on our YouTube<\/a> channel.<\/p>\n *Cover photo credits: Sara Tan\/RMIT.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Engineers at RMIT University in Melbourne have unveiled a 3D-printed titanium lattice structure that floats on water, even after sustaining severe damage. The aim is to overcome a long-standing limitation of these very lightweight structures, which sink when water infiltrates…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6114,"featured_media":72425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-materials","category-news","category-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72426,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72423\/revisions\/72426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/leaderboard-1.gif\")
<\/a><\/div><\/div>\nA New Way to Measure Density<\/h2>\n
Stronger Than Stainless Steel<\/h2>\n
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