Kickstart: New material technology may help keep soldiers safer

Researchers with the U.S. Army and its partners are using 3D printing to create a better, safer helmet for soldiers.

The Combat Capabilities Development Command's Army Research Laboratory and its HRL Laboratories partners are turning out new helmet padding with a special lattice structure to create a helmet that is lighter while still outperforming existing helmets.

"This breakthrough could pave the way to helmets with improved injury protection," Thomas Plaisted, the lab's project lead, said in a release from the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. "The open cell design of the lattice further aids in comfort and breathability to dissipate heat away from the head."

A helmet that is comfortable to wear will be worn more, which will also increase safety, researchers said.

Researchers have passed on their study to the CCDC Soldier Center to further study the new technology for future helmet systems.

This week's print edition of Plastics News is our annual ranking of thermoformers. Hollee Keller, our keeper of all things data, likes to point out some of the extra bits of information she picks up along the way in her ranking blog.

And she notes that 2020 marks a big milestone year for Huhtamaki, a multi-industry company that makes thermoformed foodservice items, in addition to a range of other products. This is the 100th anniversary year for the business that began as a confectionary company in Kokkola, Finland, in 1920.

It's also the longest-running thermoformer in our rankings at 29 years for its site in De Soto, Kan.

Investors have been getting a lot more vocal about sustainability issues lately.

Some aspects of involvement have been around for decades, as anyone familiar with Greenpeace activism knows. As You Sow has been pushing major consumer companies to ditch everything from straws to bags.

Now Berry Global Group is hearing from an investment firm that owns 7 percent of its shares. Canyon Capital Advisors wants the Indiana-based packaging company to sell off noncore assets, which isn't that unusual. But it's also calling for Berry to get more proactive in selling its sustainability story to the public.

Aluminum can makers have been pushing their story as a plastic alternative, Canyon told Berry, in a story from Steve Toloken. It thinks Berry needs to be vocal about its role.

"We believe very strongly that Berry and the rest of the plastic packaging supply chain has an equally compelling sustainability story to tell and we think the company's efforts to do so can be more focused," Canyon wrote.