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Apple Unlikely to Use Liquidmetal Alloys as Major Design Material for Several Years

boy-better-know said:
The title should read - "Apple unlikely to design anything at all for several years"



WANT NEW IMAC
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It's actually weird to think about but wow, Apple really hasn't had a new design in a while. iPhone 4 was 2010, MBP was 2008, MBA was 2010, iPad was early 2011 (the 2012 ipad wasn't a redesign), iMac was, well, I don't even remember. But I'm sure Sir Jonathan Ives and his team have some great designs coming out the near future! 😀
 
Konrad9 said:
Anyone know what the major benefit/advancement of this material is? I haven't heard anything concrete about what it really does.
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Liquidmetal doesn't harden into a crystalline molecular structure like most metals and metal alloys do. It behaves almost like plastic in that it can be heated until it gets soft, then pressed into a complex shape. It doesn't have to be completely melted into a liquid and then poured into a mold like most metals.

So what's the advantage? Well, first of all, you don't need to heat Liquidmetal all the way up to its melting point to shape it. Less energy required. Second, because it never becomes a runny liquid, it's somewhat easier to control and to press into complex shapes. That means simpler molding and few if any grinding/drilling steps, which take time and energy and require additional machinery.

Other advantages include corrosion resistance and scratch resistance. Disadvantages include cost (at least in the original formulation) because of platinum being part of the formula.
 
There should be 5 liquid metal drops there. It
Would make for a great campaign for iPhone 5. 😉
 
Other advantages include the fact that you can mold parts that would have to be machined in other metals, resulting in enough material savings to offset the increased cost of the material; and most importantly it has almost twice the strength to weight ration of aluminum or titanium.
 
SockRolid said:
Disadvantages include cost (at least in the original formulation) because of platinum being part of the formula.
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What absolute rubbish. Liquidmetal alloys are a range of zirconium based alloys. Not cheap, but not platinum prices!
 
Macrumors title says "major design material" but the quoted Q&A only mentions MacBooks. I'm not saying that we're getting a liquid metal iPhone 5, but the article title is misleading in the suggestion that liquid metal won't be used for anything substantial at all. Why this Business Insider guy asked only about MacBooks is beyond me.

I'm just sayin'.
 
SockRolid said:
Liquidmetal doesn't harden into a crystalline molecular structure like most metals and metal alloys do. It behaves almost like plastic in that it can be heated until it gets soft, then pressed into a complex shape. It doesn't have to be completely melted into a liquid and then poured into a mold like most metals.

So what's the advantage? Well, first of all, you don't need to heat Liquidmetal all the way up to its melting point to shape it. Less energy required. Second, because it never becomes a runny liquid, it's somewhat easier to control and to press into complex shapes. That means simpler molding and few if any grinding/drilling steps, which take time and energy and require additional machinery.

Other advantages include corrosion resistance and scratch resistance. Disadvantages include cost (at least in the original formulation) because of platinum being part of the formula.
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Making objects from Liquidmetal is more like injection molding (Like what's used with plastic) then machining metal (unibody MBP's that are from a single block of Aluminum) you have a lot more design flexibility then using straight up metals. Also as mentioned elsewhere Liquidmetal is incredibly durable, strong, scratch resistant, etc. One other major plus is you can alter the "Mix" of the metal to create variations that are RF transparent, etc which is great for an iPhone.

Also, this: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ba...rs-metal-iphone-backs-and-radio-transparency/
 
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gregwyattjr said:
So the MacBook is too big for the material? Okay... what about the iPhone??
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The iphone sells in some incredible volume. If yields are an issue, going from making such a small tool to making cases for such a high volume product could still take some time. It's a rumor site. Everyone reads this stuff and expects to see it in full scale use by the following cycle. I'm getting off track here, but the point was that an iphone would still be a massive step up from how it's used today. I'm not sure how they're making the laptop cases. The shapes aren't too exotic, so milling them wouldn't create as much waste as it would with a more free form kind of shape as it's milled down. I'm not sure that they'd retain such a process with liquid metal though given that you would have to carve it from a slightly larger block/sheet unless I'm missing something here. I say "slightly" larger because it doesn't have a lot of density or curvature.
 
PsychOK said:
Another "source" debunked. Getting sick of all the Apple misinformation out there. It's a joke.
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You must be new here. 😉

But seriously, I don't think this is too out of whack from the normal rumor mill. This IS a rumor site after all... everything should be taken with a grain of salt.

Heck I think there isn't enough misinformation out there. The glory days before the iphone became a reality were something to behold.

I think the iPhone rumor had been in full force for what... 5 years on macrumors?
 
inkswamp said:
I guess maybe I'm confused or just don't fully understand the benefits of Liquidmetal, but what's the big deal about this? The current batch of Apple products all seem pretty solid. Both my iPhone 4S and iPad 2 have taken drops to hard floors and came away with barely a scratch. What are the benefits of switching from the current materials to Liquidmetal?
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Smaller/thinner lighter strong scratch resistant packaging. eliminates the need for a glass backed iPhone.

Allows for casting of bezier style designs without the need of cnc machining by allowing a casting or injection molding process.
 
trims said:
What absolute rubbish. Liquidmetal alloys are a range of zirconium based alloys. Not cheap, but not platinum prices!
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"Some Liquidmetal alloys contain large amounts of platinum, which costs $1500 an ounce"

So what's "absolute rubbish"? One of the MAJOR reasons we don't see liquid metal devices is because of the high cost. And the reason for the high cost?? "It's made with expensive, rare materials like beryllium and platinum"
 
if it is so "easy to be cast" then why will it take 2-4 years? that does not make sense.

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WestonHarvey1 said:
The first time I ever used the SIM removal tool, it instantly snapped off inside. They had to give me a new phone.
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has no one told you that you were holding it wrong? I am surprised.
 
MacRumors said:
... mass production on the scale needed for full device casings is still some time off.
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As pointed out in this recent post, Samsung made and sold a LiquidMetal phone back in 2008. They had been using LiquidMetal for various phone parts since 2002.

Then Apple bought all the rights to use it in consumer devices like phones in 2010. Perhaps Jobs did that just to spite Samsung, without any intention of using it in an iPhone. Who knows.

CIA said:
Also as mentioned elsewhere Liquidmetal is incredibly durable, strong, scratch resistant, etc.
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Yep, which is why Samsung used it. The reviews for their "luxury" LiquidMetal phone cited those properties.

One other major plus is you can alter the "Mix" of the metal to create variations that are RF transparent, etc which is great for an iPhone.
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People keep repeating this, but I haven't seen any evidence that it's true. Do you have a reliable source we can view? Thanks!
 
He says it would be two to four years development, but how do we know they haven't been working on it for two to four years?
 
People keep repeating this, but I haven't seen any evidence that it's true. Do you have a reliable source we can view? Thanks!
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I've seen it posted for years as well. Based on the LM site they list that thermal and electrical conductivity is easily manipulated. That might be where it all started even if that doesn't necessarily mean RF transparent. I as well would love confirmation of this. If it's true that's huge. An iPhone with RF clear back, or even better, the back is the antennas.
http://www.liquidmetal.com/technology/processability/
 
Isn't this the more interesting quote for the interview?

Is there anything else relating to mobile gadgets and Liquidmetal that you think people should know about?

I expect Liquidmetal application in two ways: First evolutionary substitution of current materials and secondly, and more importantly, in a breakthrough product made only possible by Liquidmetal technology. Apple’s exclusively licensing a new material technology (specifically for casing and enclosures) is a first in the industry.

This is very exciting. Therefore, I expect Apple to use this technology in a breakthrough product. Such product will likely bring an innovative user interface and industrial design together, and will also be very difficult to copy or duplicate with other material technologies.
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Although to Macbooks are too big for now. Which as already mentioned does leave a couple of Apple devices in prime range to evolutionary substitution.

Still where could a breakthrough product fit in Apples range?
 
CIA said:
Making objects from Liquidmetal is more like injection molding (Like what's used with plastic) then machining metal (unibody MBP's that are from a single block of Aluminum) you have a lot more design flexibility then using straight up metals. Also as mentioned elsewhere Liquidmetal is incredibly durable, strong, scratch resistant, etc. One other major plus is you can alter the "Mix" of the metal to create variations that are RF transparent, etc which is great for an iPhone.

Also, this: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ba...rs-metal-iphone-backs-and-radio-transparency/
Click to expand...

WOW. Didn't know about the RF transparent alloy mix.

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trims said:
What absolute rubbish. Liquidmetal alloys are a range of zirconium based alloys. Not cheap, but not platinum prices!
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Here are some Liquidmetal-with-platinum references.
Probably outdated, and yes, there are probably many formulations without platinum.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/10/08/17/tech.used.in.sim.ejector.pins/

http://techland.time.com/2010/08/12/apple-granted-exclusive-use-of-liquidmetal-casing-material/

http://www.getfilings.com/o0001104659-05-013475.html

http://www.techvibes.com/blog/apple...-with-exotic-metallic-glass-maker-liquidmetal
 
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