Video: How Xenith, BASF Forward AM Are Making Sports Safer

Xenith was founded in 2006 by Vin Ferrara, a former Harvard quarterback and Columbia University MD.  Xenith's cutting-edge helmet design was driven by the idea of an “adaptive internal shock matrix" that conforms around player’s heads by pulling the helmet's chin straps, and an “impact responsive shock” that delivers advanced protection against both low level subconcussive impacts, as well as hard and fast collisions that football players experience on the field. To help achieve this goal, Xenith teamed up with BASF Forward AM to develop innovative technologies with cutting-edge materials that greatly improve the performance of football helmets and other protective gear. Xenith's commitment to continuous innovation is crucial in preventing injuries and increasing safety for players at every level of the game.

Next Level Head Protection 

After spending three years on research and development, Xenith launched its first helmet in 2009. It was not only designed to meet and exceed safety regulations, but also to transcend protection by pushing the boundaries of fit, feel, comfort, durability, performance and style.

In collaboration with Forward AM, Xenith engineered and tested intelligent impact absorbing lattice structures to develop a high-performance helmet that would provide exceptional protection for players at every level - from youth to the pros - with customized cushioning pads to provide athletes a perfect fit, ensuring the most advanced protection.

This was achieved using Ultrasim®, a unique Virtual Engineering design service for 3D printed components. This innovative software was used to accurately replicate shock absorption, enabling the design adaptation of printed structures through precise simulation to achieve a specific force deflection response – in the case of football helmets, optimized impact absorption. Through Ultrasim®, unique energy control cells were designed to cushion low-speed impacts and intelligently strengthen for high-speed impacts.

This technology can be applied to multiple applications in order to tailor the mechanical behavior of different lattice types and geometries to the application requirements. The key result being that all these structures are developed most efficiently and through virtual simulation, eliminating the need of testing hundreds of different geometries. Only the optimized lattice cell is then validated through real-life tests.

Perfect Synergy of Ultrasint® TPU01, Technology and Design

Forward AM’s advanced engineering and design expertise helped Xenith to identify the optimum combination of materials, technology and processes that were both cost-effective and time efficient. Forward AM's Ultrasint® TPU01 high performance powder enables the industrial-scale 3D printing of flexible parts with class-leading shock absorption. It is ideally suited to manufacturing complex lattice structures with its high processing stability and accuracy. This makes the extremely detailed and intricate design of the Xenith Orbit Pro helmet's interior structure possible because of the outstanding mechanical properties of TPU01.

Learn more about Orbit Pro here.

Ultimate Finish With Ultracur3D® Coat F - Flexible Coating

Forward AM has developed industry-leading finishing methods for parts 3D printed with TPU powders. Through AMT post-processing solutions such as chemical smoothing or dyeing, an already high-quality surface can be modified to deliver the desired effect. Ultracur3D® Coat F – Flexible Coating enable an aesthetically enamel-like surface that not only ensures helmets will look great but will also provide functionalities such as moisture impermeability and resistance to dirt and oil.

Award Winning Design and Continued Technological Advances

Using Additive Manufacturing, Xenith and Forward AM have created and implemented innovative technologies to distribute differentiated impact strategies intelligently throughout the helmet and to also provide an individualized helmet fit, resulting in significantly improved safety. The NFL has placed the highest priority on player safety and is providing significant financial support to companies through the 2021 NFL Helmet Challenge, a $3 million competition aimed at improving helmet performance. After two years of innovation, 13 different “teams” submitted new helmet prototypes for laboratory testing and evaluation by a panel of judges, with Xenith being selected as one of the three finalists.

The only current football helmet manufacturer of the selected three finalists, Xenith was awarded $496,500 to take their innovative design and technology to the next level and onto the football field as soon as possible. Their collaborative prototype submission incorporated a compliant shell, 3D-printed lattice carrier, engineered RHEON energy control structures, for both geometry and material chemistry, and customizable Kinetix foam inserts for improved helmet performance and comfort.

Learn more about Xenith’s award-winning design here.

About Forward AM

At Forward AM we provide customers with end-to-end solutions to enable them to shape the AM industrial revolution. Our market leading service spectrum includes:

- Virtual Engineering design service

- Rigorous in-house testing and analytics

- Engineering-grade Additive Manufacturing materials

- Expertise in the latest finishing solutions to complement our innovative materials.

“By bringing together experts from multiple disciplines, the NFL Helmet Challenge aims to encourage revolutionary advances in helmet design. The awardees demonstrated the potential to do just that. We’re very excited to support their efforts and test their prototypes next year. This is one more sign of the recent transformation in the protective equipment space – more in the last couple of years than over the previous decade – and we are committed to keeping this momentum going.” – Jeff Miller, NFL Executive Vice President of Communications, Public Affairs, and Policy

Learn more about the NFL’s commitment to this safety revolution driven by both data and innovation here.