Roger Fingas
Making use of its ties with Liquidmetal Technologies, Apple on Tuesday won a U.S. patent on a way of manufacturing products layer-by-layer using bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys, also known as bulk metalic glasses.
The technology lets alloys be solidified and cooled at slow rates and keep an amorphous and non-crystalline state at room temperature. The patent notes that if cooling doesn't happen quickly enough, crystals can form that undo the benefits of the amorphous state of the process.
The described method would involve manufacturing with molten bulk metallic glass in a constant stream or discrete droplets, which can be applied in different positions on a product and repeatedly, layer-over-layer.
The patent is assigned to Apple and a Liquidmetal subsidiary, Crucible Intellectual Property. Three of the credited inventors — Christopher D. Prest, Joseph C. Poole, and Theodore Andrew Waniuk — work with Apple, while Joseph Stevick is with Liquidmetal. Waniuk was previously with Liquidmetal as well.
Apple has a patent licensing agreement with Liquidmetal, but it's unclear if the technology has been used for anything beyond SIM card tray pins. It could be in some internal components, and the company has also been developing mass manufacturing techniques to bring costs down.
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14 Comments
Sounds similar to cold-spraying to form metal parts, but in this case you spray a liquid metal instead of accelerate a nanoparticle at high velocity to fuse it to the forming substrate. Spraying liquid metal is probably much more amenable to use in 3D printing than cold spraying. This could be really interesting for 3D printing. Not sure how it benefits Apple....
"The technology lets alloys be solidified and [B]cooled at slow rates[/B] and keep an amorphous and non-crystalline state at room temperature. The patent notes that [B]if cooling doesn't happen quickly enough[/B], crystals can form that undo the benefits of the amorphous state of the process. " I just don't get it !!
[quote name="abhitalks" url="/t/186534/liquidmetal-concept-could-enable-apple-to-manufacture-devices-layer-by-layer#post_2729836"]"The technology lets alloys be solidified and [B]cooled at slow rates[/B] and keep an amorphous and non-crystalline state at room temperature. The patent notes that [B]if cooling doesn't happen quickly enough[/B], crystals can form that undo the benefits of the amorphous state of the process. " I just don't get it !![/quote] I guess they mean you have to use an accurate meat thermometer so as not to ruin the roast! ;)
Some day, something will make LQMT move....
I hope LQMT stock benefits from this in a mass production capacity. I've taken a sizable gamble on it stock wise.