‘Y-지퍼’가 3D 프린팅의 잠재력을 강조하는 방법

3D 프린팅, 또는 적층 제조는 종종 제조업의 미래로 선전됩니다. 그리고 여러 면에서 이미 그렇습니다. 로켓 노즐, 드론 부품, 맞춤형 의료 임플란트와 같은 고급 장비에 적용되고 있기 때문입니다.

3D 프린팅이 독특한 이유는 전통적인 방법으로는 매우 어렵거나 불가능한 복잡한 형태를 만들 수 있다는 점입니다. 이는 새로운 설계 가능성을 완전히 열어줍니다.

따라서 사출이나 가공과 같은 전통적인 제조 방식이 기본 부품에 대해서는 여전히 남아 있을지라도, 3D 프린팅은 점점 더 새로운 아이디어를 탐구하고 제조 복잡성 때문에 포기되었던 개념을 재검토하는 데 사용되고 있습니다.

최근의 한 예는 1980년대에 MIT 교수에 의해 발명된 “Y-지퍼” 개념입니다. 일반적인 평면 지퍼와 기본 원리는 유사하지만, Y-지퍼는 삼면 구조이며 훨씬 더 복잡한 형태를 취할 수 있습니다.

40년이 넘은 이 특허는 최근 MIT CSAIL(컴퓨터 과학 및 인공지능 연구소), 중국 천진대학, 독일 뮌헨 공과대학, 일본 게이오 대학 연구원들에 의해 재조명되었습니다.

현대 3D 프린팅 기술을 사용하여 Y-지퍼의 여러 버전을 제작·시험하고 의료, 로봇공학, 소비재 분야에서의 잠재적 적용을 탐구했습니다. 그들은 이 연구 결과를 Association for Computing Machinery(ACM)¹에 “Y-zipper: 3D Printing Flexible–Rigid Transition Mechanism for Rapid and Reversible Assembly”라는 제목으로 발표했습니다.

지퍼 설명

Zippers are made by assembling together two sets of perfectly identical plastic or metal teeth. A latching mechanism pushes the teeth to exactly the right angle to do so, and then can reverse the mechanism when pulled in the other direction.

It actually took almost 20 years for the concept to become a commercial success. This is because to be reliable and not ruin the bag, clothes, or other goods tied with the zipper, it needs to be manufactured with extreme precision so every tooth is perfect.

As a result, today’s market for zippers is dominated by one company, YKK, a Japanese firm that has built its dominance of this market over the high quality and reliability of its zippers, backed by total vertical integration.

조절 가능한 강성

A new class of material is looking to add to a material’s inherent properties extra flexibility, for example, moving from flexible to rigid, without changing the composition of the material.

Such rigid-to-flexible material transitions are a property sometimes referred to as tunable stiffness. Many methods have been explored to achieve this result, including inflatable structures, origami-inspired mechanisms, and Velcro-based assemblies. However, they all suffer from issues of durability, ease of manufacturing, or limited possible shapes.

Another approach is to use zippers that are stiff when zipped and flexible when unzipped. Some options have been developed, for example:

• StructCurves reconfigures zippers into block-like modules to increase closed-state stability,
• Touch-n-Curl introduces branched zipper topologies to stabilize complex, curved surfaces.

However, both methods use intricate tooth geometries that require manual, piece-by-piece assembly. This ultimately undermines one of the zipper’s core advantages: its rapid and reversible operation.

Another option, zip-chain actuators, stores a chain that becomes rigid when fed and locked.

These designs deliver rapid, reversible extension with high axial stiffness, yet require specialized hardware and tolerances, cannot be automatically adapted to different geometries, and are not printable all-in-one.

So the ideal method would require combining the traditional speed and reversability of a normal zipper with the tunable stiffness of zip-chain actuators, something that Y-zipper finally achieves.

출처: ACM

Y-지퍼 개념 설명

40년 된 발명이 되살아나다

The concept of the Y-zipper was invented by William Freeman, forming a triangular shape, where on each side, he nailed a belt to connect narrow wooden “teeth” together. A slider wrapping around the device could be moved to straighten it into a triangular tube.

At the time, the concept drew little interest, but Freeman still patented his invention (특허 #4,757,577).

출처: MIT

The opening or closing of the Y-zipper can be done manually, by pull-cord, or by robotic movement.

Manual movement is the simplest, helped by an undersurface grip on the slider. The pull cord can be activated by a fixed motor. Meanwhile, robotic/dynamic mechanical actuation used an N20 motor, microcontroller, a wireless receiver,  two additional custom 3D-printed gears, and a battery into a 15 mm × 25 mm × 35 mm package weighing only 18 g. The actuator could be wirelessly controlled via Bluetooth at distances up to 25 m.

출처: ACM

It can be scaled to extended lengths, up to 3 meters (10 feet), accommodating a wide range of form factors and applications.

The slider is made of the upper separator, which splits the strips when unzipping, and the lower converger, which joins them when zipping.

출처: ACM

The zipper’s stability comes from its three-way interlocking structure, allowing for smooth, rapid closure (at speeds of  30 cm/s). Unlike other zipper designs, the simpler teeth can move quickly and be manufactured quite easily.

“전통적인 지퍼 이빨은 주로 지퍼가 닫힌 물체(예: 여행가방의 뚜껑과 본체)를 양쪽에서 고정하는 것이 주된 기능인 반면, Y-지퍼 이빨의 가장 중요한 역할은 닫힌 상태에서 Y-지퍼에 충분한 구조적 지지를 제공하는 것입니다.”

The bridges are the part that provides the structural integrity of the entire chain, or the “tensile-force-bearing unit”.

The ball nodes & sockets provide additional alignment during closure and primarily function to resist shear forces, preventing the zipper teeth from sliding against each other.

출처: ACM

Y-지퍼는 어떻게 움직일 수 있나요?

In its simplest form, the Y-zipper can simply be formed into a stiff, triangular-shaped tube when assembled.

Another simple option is a bend arch, thanks to one of the strands having non-uniform teeth and curved bridges. The bending angle and effective bending radius can be fine-tuned through different tooth shapes and predicted by using a computer model.

Another option is to modify the inter-segment angles, creating a coil.

출처: ACM

Lastly, it can also be assembled in a screw shape, either in a clockwise or counterclockwise twist. The total screw angle can be varied as well, up to a point where the excessive angular mismatch between adjacent teeth occurs.

출처: ACM

유용하고 다재다능한 형태 만들기

The straight and bent shapes are not mutually exclusive, and can be combined to create a large variety of shapes of the final zipped form. This means that the Y-zipper could ultimately be used to create an activable flexible structure of almost any shape, albeit not changeable once a design is fixed.

출처: ACM

A wide array of materials could be used for the Y-zipper. This could, of course, include wood, as in the original patent, but also flexible plastic like thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), common 3D-printing plastics like polylactic acid (PLA), and even fabric, which could ultimately include materials like Kevlar fiber.

To create even more flexibility in potential designs, connections between different Y-zippers are needed. To this purpose, the researchers created a joint that can tie together up to three Y-zippers.

출처: ACM

Because the point Y-zipper is to be easily deployed when needed, compact storage is also a quality that users will look for in this product. So the researchers proposed a method to roll up the zipper for efficient storage, compacting a 0.5 m zipper (1.6 feet) into a cylindrical container with a height of only 10 cm (4 inches) and radius of 25mm (1 inch).

출처: ACM

Y-지퍼를 실제로 구현하기

Y-지퍼 적용 분야

One of the most straight-to-market potential applications of the Y-zipper is 의료용 보조기, as 3D printing is already often used for similar applications.

For example, a wrist brace could be left in a flexible state during the day, allowing for free wrist movements, avoiding stiffness and muscle atrophy, and rigid during the patient’s sleep to avoid secondary injuries. The possibility of moving the zipper one-handed without assistance is an extra benefit.

출처: ACM

Another possibility is to create 로봇용 조절 가능한 팔다리. In a simple prototype, the researchers created a robot that can rapidly adjust its height from 60 mm to 245 mm (2.3 – 9.6 inches) in under 3 seconds.

“전통적인 텔레스코핑이나 다관절 메커니즘과 달리, Y-지퍼는 추가적인 연결부나 복잡한 기구학 없이 단 네 개의 경량 튜브만으로 조절 가능한 다리 길이를 구현합니다.”

출처: ACM

A third application can be the 캠핑 텐트의 빠른 조립 및 해체. The researchers created a frame consisting of four Y-zippers, a joint connecting them, and four corner anchors of the tent. The overall assembly time took about 1 minute and 20 seconds.

출처: ACM

제한 테스트

Of course, any real-world application will rely on the durability of the design. The researchers stress tested the design by running it continuously for 1 day and 15 hours, completing more than 18,000 cycles, one every 8 seconds, before a fracture finally occurred at the interface between the teeth and the bridges.

Overall, 18,000+ cycles, especially on early prototypes, prove that the design is already strong enough for most commercial use cases.

Stronger materials and computational methods to predict and compensate for gravitational sag could be deployed to improve the performance even further.

The accuracy of Y-zipper is limited by the 3D printing resolution. The narrowest functional strip width they achieved was 8 mm (0.3 inch). More advanced printing methods or future development of 3D printing could create even smaller Y-zippers.

In any case, the Y-zipper is one more example of the potential of 3D printing in not just replacing existing design and manufacturing methods, but opening the way for entirely new designs.

3D 프린팅/적층 제조에 투자하기

Nano Dimension

Nano Dimension은 3D 프린팅 전자제품에 집중하면서 시작했습니다. 이 입지는 2025년에 현금 전액 인수 방식으로 경쟁사인 Desktop Metal과 Markforged를 차례로 인수하면서 발전했습니다. 이를 통해 고정밀 금속을 포함한 다양한 새로운 소재가 회사 제품에 추가되었으며, 3D 프린팅 전자 시장을 통합하는 데 도움이 되었습니다.

This also created economies of scale by merging the customer base that includes SpaceX, Tesla, GE, Honeywell, Emerson, Raytheon, NASA, Medtronics, etc.

Lastly, the acquired companies were mostly active in different geographic areas, with Nano Dimension in Europe and Desktop Metal in the US, allowing for synergy by merging their sales teams.

출처: Nano Dimension

In 2026, Nano Dimension has been refocusing its product portfolio with the sale of 3D electronic printing technologies and its product line “Fabrica” to Inspira Technologies (IINN )

The resulting company will be focused on metal binder jetting (metal 3D printing), Software Platform, and Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), and an overall shift from integration of its 2025’s M&A to scaling a unified technology platform across its global markets.

Investors need to be aware that the company has long been struggling to manage positive net income, in part because it has made acquisitions and invested in improving its technology.

In Q1 2026, Nano Dimension grew its revenues 106% year-to-year to $29.7M, and registered a $12.5M loss in adjusted EBITDA and $69.7M net loss. It held $441.6M in cash and other cash-equivalent liquid assets.

So the future of the company’s stock will be tied to its capacity to grow with the 3D printing industry as a whole and defend its position as a technology leader.

최신 Nano Dimension (NNDM) 주식 뉴스 및 개발

참조 연구

^{1. Jiaji Li, et al. Y-zipper: 3D Printing Flexible–Rigid Transition Mechanism for Rapid and Reversible Assembly. CHI ’26: Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Article No.: 754, Pages 1 – 17. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790723}