Liquidmetal Technologies Inc (LQMT)

[vyper4]

Visser has removed the references he had to Liquidmetal from the VPC website. This was to be expected, but wanted to see what he was going to do with it.

Amorphous Metal Casting

Amorphous alloy injection molding, also known as amorphous metal casting, is capable of manufacturing complex geometries in large quantities using multi-cavitation tooling. This process uses a Zirconium based alloy manufactured here in the United States by the global leader in advanced materials, Materion. Unlike other metal injection molding or other injection molding processes, Amorphous alloy parts come out of the mold in a useable state and do not require expensive sintering or binder removal techniques. Amorphous alloy injection molding casting is a hybrid of plastic injection molding and die-casting, which makes it capable of much higher geometry resolution and tolerances. However, it is limited to relatively small complex parts that would otherwise require extensive handling if made from traditional manufacturing techniques.

The ability to achieve geometry tolerances as tight as 25 microns is largely due to the limited shrinkage, roughly 0.2% compared to 0.6% in die casting and upwards of 25% shrinkage in MIM (metal injection molding). A nearly mirror level as cast surface finish lends itself well to cosmetic and wash down grade parts.



Some material property advantages are:
•Over twice the tensile strength as titanium
•Superior corrosion resistance to stainless steel
•Hardness of equivalent of heat-treated tool steels
•Incomparable elastic strain limit of 2%


No manufacturing process is perfect for every application. It is important to work with the Amorphous alloys designers to exploit the unique material properties and optimize tool cavitation so optimum value is reached.