Liquidmetal Technologies Inc (LQMT)

[Crispy_2014]

Engel has high hopes for Liquidmetal | Plastics News

http://www.plasticsnewseurope.com/article/20160617/PNE/160619843/engel-has-high-hopes-for-liquidmetal


Engel has reported an enthusiastic response from potential customers to its work in metal injection moulding with US-based Liquidmetal Technologies.
In January, Engel held a joint event with its system partners Liquidmetal and Materion at its Technologieforum Stuttgart in Germany, which attracted more than 200 guests from both plastics and metals
manufacturers.

Heinz Rasinger, VP of Engel teletronics, said after the event: “We have discussed some very concrete ideas together with the participants at our forum. The results have shown that it will be less a question of substituting the material in existing products, but much rather how we can design components in a way that can take full advantage of the potential of the material.”
The amorphous zirconium-based alloys developed by Liquidmetal are suited to injection moulding. Engel suggested applications in the medical sector – such as long and delicate instruments for keyhole surgery – functional components for electrical devices and decoration elements for automotive interiors.
“For some products, the discussions led to some very promising approaches,” said Rasinger. “We will be starting the first projects shortly.”
Thomas Steipp, CEO at Liquidmetal, said: “At our technology centre in California, we have already fabricated sample multi-component parts with Liquidmetal and another metal.”

Apple and Swatch are among Liquidmetal’s first licensees. Engel said it does not know
which components will be made in Liquidmetal alloys by those two companies. However, there has been online speculation that the hinges on Apple’s ultra-thin MacBooks, to be launched later in 2016, will be metal injection moulded.