Apple wins two patents on feedstock, molding for Liquidmetal alloys
Apple has won two new U.S. patents through its ties with exclusive materials partner Liquidmetal, addressing ways of manufacturing amorphous alloys including hollowed-out shapes.
The first patent was originally applied for in May 2012, and documents a kind of feedstock -- raw material -- made of bulk metallic glass, which can then be used in an injection molding process for manufacturing products. The second dates back to February 2011 and covers a thermoplastic molding method involving two different fluids, and allows producing both three-dimensional hollow objects and ones with extreme aspect ratios.
The patents credit people known to work for either Apple or Liquidmetal. Two people, Quoc Tran Pham and Theodore Andy Waniuk, are mentioned in both patents and are the only credited inventors for the thermoplastic molding concept.
Apple has been picking up a number of Liquidmetal patents in recent years, thanks to a licensing arrangement dating back to 2010. It's still unknown how many current-generation Apple products use Liquidmetal technology, if any, although the company is believed to have used the material for SIM card ejector pins.
Any use on a significant scale would require high-volume mass manufacturing, something Apple has been building towards through accumulated patents. But it's unclear whether the prohibitive costs associated with Liquidmetal have been addressed enough to use the material in a more meaningful way.
The first patent was originally applied for in May 2012, and documents a kind of feedstock -- raw material -- made of bulk metallic glass, which can then be used in an injection molding process for manufacturing products. The second dates back to February 2011 and covers a thermoplastic molding method involving two different fluids, and allows producing both three-dimensional hollow objects and ones with extreme aspect ratios.
The patents credit people known to work for either Apple or Liquidmetal. Two people, Quoc Tran Pham and Theodore Andy Waniuk, are mentioned in both patents and are the only credited inventors for the thermoplastic molding concept.
Apple has been picking up a number of Liquidmetal patents in recent years, thanks to a licensing arrangement dating back to 2010. It's still unknown how many current-generation Apple products use Liquidmetal technology, if any, although the company is believed to have used the material for SIM card ejector pins.
Any use on a significant scale would require high-volume mass manufacturing, something Apple has been building towards through accumulated patents. But it's unclear whether the prohibitive costs associated with Liquidmetal have been addressed enough to use the material in a more meaningful way.
Comments
And Liquid Metal is only one of several areas reported on this site where Apple is straining to make a breakthrough. And then there are other areas of technology we have not even a rumor of.
Liquid metal seems very cool, but SpaceX manages to 3D print rocket engine parts, so I would think long term 3D printing would offer the most design flexibility, strength and precision.
But perhaps liquid metal would be faster to produce than 3D printed parts.
Might be good for a Watch casing.
And the damn iPhone/iPad casing too.
LiquidMetal has a very high fluidity and it can reproduce amazing detail. One application that has been discussed is scalpels formed by casting the knife edge. It is strong and corrosion resistant and is very stiff (high Young's modulus.) However, it's impact resistance is more akin to glass. It has very little ductility - like silicon-based glasses - and is therefore rather brittle. So, while it has the fluidity to cast thin shapes like the casing for a computer, smart phone or tablet, it would likely be too brittle for that application. One good drop and it would tend to shatter. A thicker watch casing, on the other hand, may be attractive as very fine features could be cast into it. Unfortunately, Apple's partner, LiquidMetal Technologies has already licensed Swatch for the timekeeping applications. No idea if it is an exclusive license, but if so then that would leave Apple having to negotiate with Swatch and LiquidMetal to secure rights to use it in The Watch.
So, attractive properties, if used in the proper application, but with a very high raw material cost it will be a while before we see commercialization of these alloys in any volume.
Might be good for a Watch casing.
It would be perfect.
But : http://www.swatchgroup.com/en/services/archive/2011/swatch_group_signs_exclusive_license_agreement_with_liquidmetal_technologies
I think I read Apple's exclusive consumer electronics deal is ending in 2015. I could be wrong and I didn't search around for the link. It would be hard to believe all this work will come to nothing.
From this article : http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/19/3096368/apple-liquidmetal-exclusive-deal-2014
So apparently the license is "perpetual" in markets in which Apple competes, and I think the Swatch exclusive license is also perpetual.
I don't think that's true. It's perpetual, as I recall.
(Pipped by VL-Tone).
Oh, you mean they were granted patent status by the USPTO.
Liquid metal seems very cool, but SpaceX manages to 3D print rocket engine parts, so I would think long term 3D printing would offer the most design flexibility, strength and precision.
But perhaps liquid metal would be faster to produce than 3D printed parts.
Huh? Did you just make this up completely? Because no part of it makes any sense. 3D printing currently offers much LESS design flexibility and much LESS precision, and no documented advantages in "strength".
Apple sends it's gladiators into the Thunderdome and left as the winners to claim the prize of the "patent"
Please provide some proof that the costs are prohibitive! Perhaps somebody pulled up some old information and wrote that damaging statement without any research.
Perhaps this is no longer true given that Engel is currently making a metal-injection-molding machine licensed by LiquidMetal (http://www.engelglobal.com/en/us/liquidmetal-en.html) and Materion is a licensed supplier of raw material. Apple is doing a lot of R&D with this material, and in recent months, LiquidMetal has received well over 100 RFQs. There is a new military-style knife being produced (just launched) from Mitner-Adams using the material. It's incredible to think all this activity is using a material that is "cost-prohibitive".
If this were my site, I might print a retraction.
The raw material is pricy €100/kg. But consider the cost, and time, of milling a unibody MacBook chassis. And compare with two-three minutes cycle time with Engel's machine.
Exactly, not really "cost prohibitive" as mentioned in the article above.
I've just come back from a demonstration of Engel's Liquidmetal injection moulding machine at the company's St Valentin plant in Austria. It will allow for mass manufacture of LM parts.
The raw material is pricy €100/kg. But consider the cost, and time, of milling a unibody MacBook chassis. And compare with two-three minutes cycle time with Engel's machine.
Any links to more information about this process?
That's not until after the apocalypse.
How did Apple "win" these patents?
Oh, you mean they were granted patent status by the USPTO.
Sometimes the patenting process is a race to be the first to get it through the system... so "win" can be an appropriate term in cases where it is known that two or more parties have submitted applications.