3D-printed Y-zipper turns from flexible to hard in less time than it takes to zip your fly

Date:
Tue, 05 May 2026 22:30:00 +0000

Description:
Researchers took a 40-year-old design and applied some software and 3D printing to bring the Y-zipper to life

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Y-zipper is a 3D-printed three-sized zipper Is flexible when unzipped but rigid when zipped up The 40-year-old concept was brought to light by researchers using software and a 3D printer Let's make zippers interesting again. Right now, they're just part of your coat, pants, or fashionable bag, but what if a zipper could serve as the framework for a cast on your broken leg, or help you construct a tent in one minute? That's the kind of zipper we could all get behind, and
apparently, it exists as something called Y-zipper.

Y-zipper is the real-world realization of a 40-year-old design dream. Forty years ago, former Polaroid engineer and current MIT professor William Freedman, PhD, envisioned a three-sided zipper. It would be like a
traditional zipper in that it would have pieces that interlock to form a strong bond, but by adding a third side and zipping them together, it could create a potentially rigid structure that could be unzipped to return to a flexible form. According to a report in MIT's News Journal , though, Dr. Freeman's design was rejected in 1985 by a prestigious design competition. Article continues below You may like Is this the beginning of the end for humanity? Slightly terrifying 3D printing breakthrough means we can now print robotic 'muscle' Researchers develop battery-free 3D-printed metal tags for smart tracking Mechanical computer made from springs and bolts is an eye-opening concept

In the intervening years, new materials and 3D printing arrived, making it possible to create an automated assembly and revive the Y-zipper idea. A second chance for this innovative Y-zipper Y-Zipper: 3D Printing Flexible-Rigid Transitions in One Click - YouTube Watch On In a project led
by MIT postdoc and CSAIL researcher Jiaji Li, they created a 3D printable version of the Y-zipper. Each zipper begins as a design on the computer where Li and his team connect triangular and zippable primatives, bending and curving them however they want.

Once they have a Y-zipper's rigid design, they break it down into three printable flat zipper panels. Then they print them out, peel them off the print table, and use a custom-designed slider to weave them together. The three sections are each fed into one of three slots, and like the slider on your traditional zipper, as you pull the three pieces through this slider, they lock together and come out as a rigid shape on the other side. That
shape can be a rod, a curve, or even a corkscrew (it all depends on how each side was printed and the angles contained within). When you move the pieces back through the slider or reverse the slider, the three pieces cascade apart as

It looks cool, but there are even sexier, more practical applications. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

In an MIT-produced video, we see how the team designed a Y-zipper hand brace. They started on the computer with CAD software, creating a rigid shape that would curve around the hand, and, in the application, pulled it apart into three flat zipper pieces that would eventually fit together.

On the 3D-printer, they printed one flat section on a fabric glove, which, when worn, was still completely flexible. The researchers then used a small slider to zip together the two remaining sides. The resulting Y-zipper is a glove with a rigid brace. Just imagine how this could be used on, say, a full cast for a broken leg.

In another part of the video, a small robot has four Y-zipper legs that slide in and out, allowing it to walk under obstacles. Inside the robot, four sliders let the flexible portions coil back into the robot's body.

Lastly, the Y-zipper is used as the frame for a tent. The four flexible sides are sewn onto the four seams, and when the two sides are zipped onto the spines, each one becomes firm and fully supports the tent frame. And if
you're particularly lazy, you can apparently attach a small actuator to the slider, and it will zip up the sections for you. In the video, this reduced the time it takes to raise the tent to one minute. Just imagine all the time you'll have to light a campfire.

The team is still working on mass-producing the materials and production, but it seems quite likely that someday we'll see Y-zippers everywhere, except maybe on your fly. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/tech/3d-printed-y-zipper-turns-from-flexible-to-hard -in-less-time-than-it-takes-to-zip-your-fly


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