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So, in the future year of 2569, technology has progressed greatly from what it was in the 21st century. The people on earth don't have to worry about food or resources, as 3D printers can take care of all your needs. The total human population across the galaxy about is 178 billion, but people only have to live in crowded conditions if they want to, as there are over 10,000 planets for you to live on. Robots take care of the sick, and humans are only in hospitals for the need ms of emotional support.

Clothing technology has also advanced. Since people in the 26th century live busy lives, they don’t want to be stopped by trivial matters like broken bones. Clothing manufacturers have come up with an #X material that is lightweight when worn, but can harden and form an adequate cast around a person's arm. My question is, is there a real-life material that can be lightweight one second, but harden from a blunt impact also?

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    $\begingroup$ So far in the future, why would you care about material existing now? Also, you should care how you write. That said, @dot_Sp0T, mistakes like that are not highlighted by spellchecker, and hard to spot. Unless OP has history of ignoring spelling advice, please, more patience. $\endgroup$
    – Mołot
    Jun 7, 2018 at 16:06
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    $\begingroup$ The main problem with this is that you can have something that's lightweight and hard: they're not mutually exclusive. $\endgroup$
    – JSCoder says Reinstate Monica
    Jun 7, 2018 at 16:06
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    $\begingroup$ Non-newtonian fluids (preferably not water-based) and things like diameme (google.nl/amp/s/www.graphene-info.com/…) $\endgroup$
    – Demigan
    Jun 7, 2018 at 16:17
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    $\begingroup$ @DT Cooper If its lightweight at any point, its going to be lightweight when it gets hard too. $\endgroup$
    – Tyler S. Loeper
    Jun 7, 2018 at 20:06
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    $\begingroup$ @JBH My beef is that the question can be completely stripped down to "is there a real-life material that hardens from a blunt impact" - which obviously exists. If this question was asked on its own without the unrelated flavor text, it would quickly be closed as nothing to do with worldbuilding. My secondary beef is that the question shows no research effort whatsoever, but that's not grounds for closure, unfortunately - at least not without a "no prior research" close reason. $\endgroup$
    – Aify
    Jun 7, 2018 at 22:08

2 Answers 2

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Perhaps auxetic marials would fit the bill? Auxetics are materials that grow thicker when stretched and have already been researched for use as body armor and there's actually a commercial product, Zetix, used for bomb proofing.

Auxetics don't harden after being stretched but perhaps you can add a technological development whereby when the material is stretched, small vessels throughout the material rupture, react with oxygen to form a voluminous foam, fill the cells of the now stretched auxetic material, and then solidify. The lightweight fabric is now a rigid cast.

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  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to worldbuilding.se, Alex $\endgroup$
    – DT Cooper
    Jun 7, 2018 at 20:50
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to WorldBuilding, Alex! If you have a moment please take the tour and visit the help center to learn more about the site. You may also find Worldbuilding Meta and The Sandbox (both of which require 5 rep to post on) useful. Have fun! $\endgroup$
    – FoxElemental
    Jun 8, 2018 at 13:29
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The material you are looking for is called diamene, it consist of two layers of graphene on top of each other. Normally it is very flexible but when pressure is applied it becomes stiffer than diamond, and it’s extremely light weight.

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