Apple and Liquidmetal Technologies Extend Intellectual Property Agreement Until 2014

[TallManNY]

Amorphic metal has been a goal of manufacturers for decades if not longer. Metal tends to fail where crystals intersect. If you cool a metal down fast enough, metals don't form crystals. The problem is, even if you drop molten metal into liquid nitrogen, the outside cools fast enough to be amorphic, however, the inside remains flawed. The only solution before Liquid Metal was to make very thin strips of laminated metal, then glue them together. (This was suboptimal.)

Liquid Metal is one of the coolest inventions in the last 100 years. I hope they can get the production speed up to something useful. (I would be willing to bet, production speed is the reason Apple has not used them for anything significant yet.)

Hmm, well I'm willing to be educated. However, people are discussing making laptops out of this stuff and I would like to point out that aluminum laptops are already very thin and also very strong. Yes, they scratch and could even dent. But the metal bodies certainly don't "break" and the form is rigid enough.

And getting production speed up and cost down is more than just a hurdle. It is the whole game when we are talking about consumer devices that Apple wants to sell in the millions.

The sim extraction tool did not seem to me an appreciably better technological feat than the common needle that people have sewn with for thousands of years. Making hard, thin metal objects was, I thought, something we already had nicely worked out.

 

[gpat]

lol I love how this image has devolved from being well-liked to becoming possibly the biggest downvote magnet on this site

That appears to be true. I don't get how a simple image, that reflects the concept I want to represent, could lead someone to vote me down. What a rotten system.

 

[m0ssie]

IMO Apple sees some innovative opportunities with this technology

for their own applications. It just may be a while off; requiring further R&D before making such a radical design implementation, and they just don't won't other companies to gain an edge. IMO, if Apple didn't think there was innovative advancements to be realized for their own company, and there was no benefit to gain on their competitors with the technology, they would cared less about other companies using the technology.

IMO, Apple is seriously considering using the technology if they consider it worth while. Apple is probably in a holding pattern while more R&D is being done on whether it's beneficial.

Nothing to see here, it's just Apple blocking others in the market from innovating further.

 

[KnightWRX]

Far less expensive to inject liquid metal into a mold than to cnc machine a block of metal.

Not sure if serious.

You do understand that pretty much any metal can be mold-injected right ?

 

[TMay]

Amorphic metal has been a goal of manufacturers for decades if not longer. Metal tends to fail where crystals intersect. If you cool a metal down fast enough, metals don't form crystals. The problem is, even if you drop molten metal into liquid nitrogen, the outside cools fast enough to be amorphic, however, the inside remains flawed. The only solution before Liquid Metal was to make very thin strips of laminated metal, then glue them together. (This was suboptimal.)

Liquid Metal is one of the coolest inventions in the last 100 years. I hope they can get the production speed up to something useful. (I would be willing to bet, production speed is the reason Apple has not used them for anything significant yet.)

At the time Apple purchased the original license, there was only a single machine suited to production. I have not heard that there have been any other machines built, though I suspect that there have been a few.

 

[SgtPepper12]

Liquid Metal is one of the coolest inventions in the last 100 years.

So you thought about the coolest things that have been invented in the last 100 years, and concluded that Liquid Metal ist one of the coolest inventions? I don't even

 

[Millah]

The sim extraction tool did not seem to me an appreciably better technological feat than the common needle that people have sewn with for thousands of years. Making hard, thin metal objects was, I thought, something we already had nicely worked out.

Ummm....you seemed to have missed the point entirely. Apple didn't use it to make some fancy amazing new sim tool. They used it to field test their ability to actually manufacture things with this alloy. It had nothing to do with making a better sim tool. Lol

 

[ellsworth]

Still waiting for my liquid gun-metal macbook pro to arrive.... C'mon and hurry up.

 

[Apple Corps]

Not sure if serious.

You do understand that pretty much any metal can be mold-injected right ?

Than why is Apple cnc machining the notebooks as opposed to mold injection? The cost of injection is what I remember reading as an advantage for LM technology.

That said, not sure if we will see anything near term (or long term) for that matter).

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Does no one else find it odd that they chose to extend the license 4 months after the original one expired?

 

[Apple Corps]

Very unique casting performance compared to casting regular metals.

 

[Apple Corps]

So - to get equivalent performance one has to forge a billet and than machine it - costly.

LM technology allows injection molding - far cheaper and near forged benefits.

At any rate that is my understanding.

 

[pacalis]

iPhone SIM Eject Tool - the most advanced of its kind, yet.

Amazing. The iSIM iEject iTool.

It's {insert long pause} revolutionary.


{insert longer pause} Magical.

It's simply the only {look away, pause, look toward} iTool you'll ever need.

 

[KnightWRX]

Than why is Apple cnc machining the notebooks as opposed to mold injection? The cost of injection is what I remember reading as an advantage for LM technology.

Because CNC machining is another technique ? My engine blocks in both my vehicules were mold injected, my laptop was CNC machined.

Are you really serious ? You do realise "liquid metal" is not liquid ?

 

[Macclone]

So, the only opportunity to innovate is by following Apples footsteps exactly?

The opportunity for innovation, if anything, increases. Because now competitors will have to innovate THEMSELVES if they want to truly compete with Apples industrial design. That kind of pressure is what causes creative sparks within creative individuals. And if they truly think the only way to innovate and compete is by copying Apples material and fabrication process, then that is the exact opposite of innovation.

Every other company had the exact same opportunity as Apple to spot the potential with this alloy and put it to good use.

Samdung copies Apple, so they would have no use for it.

 

[Mak47]

I'd like to see them replace MacBook keys with this. It's still exceptionally lightweight, would have a nice look and wouldn't develop the shine that the current plastic keys get after some use.

 

[Apple Corps]

Because CNC machining is another technique ? My engine blocks in both my vehicules were mold injected, my laptop was CNC machined.

Are you really serious ? You do realise "liquid metal" is not liquid ?

It is injected molded - like a plastic - requires little additional fabrication.

 

[RalfTheDog]

Because CNC machining is another technique ? My engine blocks in both my vehicules were mold injected, my laptop was CNC machined.

Are you really serious ? You do realise "liquid metal" is not liquid ?

I hate to tell you this, however, it is. The glass in your windows is also liquid.

 

[TallManNY]

Ummm....you seemed to have missed the point entirely. Apple didn't use it to make some fancy amazing new sim tool. They used it to field test their ability to actually manufacture things with this alloy. It had nothing to do with making a better sim tool. Lol

Well now I'm feeling bad. I'm not sure I even noticed the sim tool when I openned my iPhone 4. I certainly have no idea where it is now. I did, however, just open my sim tray using a paper clip.

Since this was just a field test, I wonder if Apple feels like LM passed? I like the argument above that this was a way to be able they made the first LM commercial item and maybe this protects some of their legal rights. It certainly helped funnel some cash to the LM company. Though I'm not sure how much one would pay for a paper clip replacement.

 

[entatlrg]

Nothing to see here, it's just Apple blocking others in the market from innovating further.

What's your point?

What do you suggest they do?

Sit and wait for others to copy them?

 

[KnightWRX]

I hate to tell you this, however, it is. The glass in your windows is also liquid.

Amorphous.

 

[RalfTheDog]

Amorphous.

Gazoontite!

 

[Mac365]

I hate to tell you this, however, it is. The glass in your windows is also liquid.

Glass is not a liquid or a solid, it is an amorphous non-crystalline solid.

 

[mobi]

Far less expensive to inject liquid metal into a mold than to cnc machine a block of metal.

So - what will be seen- in theory - is lower prices (ha ha) or more Apple profit.

Stockholders win either way.

Agree...They may be prototyping, but far away from production environment.

 

[RalfTheDog]

Glass is not a liquid or a solid, it is an amorphous non-crystalline solid.

From a thermodynamic perspective, it is liquid. Most people I know, think of it as neither solid nor liquid, however, that is not much fun.