Liquidmetal Technologies Inc (LQMT)

[PayMEmf]

Here you go...all interested in reading this will show you where we are in the commercialization of our beauty material:·) lol congrats longs I tip my hat to those who have been on this grind for 14 years! You picking up what li’s throwing down!? Enjoy:)

http://app.myzaker.com/news/article.php?f=xiongzhang&pk=5a45173f1bc8e0fb11000026

1 Liquid Metal: New Material to Emerge in the 5G Era

Core logic: The 5G era has brought about a change in the structure of mobile phones. Liquid metal has the cost and performance advantages over stainless steel. Materials: Liquid metal has inherent advantages such as high strength, high hardness, and high elasticity. On the process: the liquid metal net forming + CNC process saves nearly 30% cost compared to the stainless steel CNC (we estimate the stainless steel middle frame price is around 280 yuan). China's technology is at the forefront, industrialization is gradually progressing, and optimistic about the future market of materials.

1.1 Outstanding performance, industrialization promotion is ongoing

1.1.1 What is liquid metal?

Liquid metal is also called amorphous alloy, metallic glass, English metallic glass, glassy alloy, or amorphous alloy. Traditional crystalline materials consist of crystalline materials, which are a large class of rigid solids that form a "collection of liquid atoms" during rapid cooling. Amorphous alloys have no defects such as dislocations, stacking faults, grain boundaries, etc. Therefore, these alloys exhibit special mechanical properties, such as extremely high breaking strength and hardness, and their elastic limit is much higher than that of crystalline alloys. Usually, they are 2%, while the amorphous alloy has a stronger local corrosion resistance. In the past 20 years, due to its excellent physical and chemical properties and extensive application of technology, amorphous materials have been rapidly developed and become a major class of important new solid materials. Liquid metal is widely used in smart phones and other consumer electronics, automotive products, medical, military and aerospace fields.



Substrates of liquid metals include various oxides such as Zr, Fe, and Ni. At present, the zirconium base is used mostly, and the zirconia of more than 1000 degrees Celsius is cooled to 200 degrees Celsius in a vacuum environment within 2 seconds and molded in a mold at the same time.

1.1.2 High strength, high elasticity, high hardness, different "liquid"
Liquid metal has extremely high strength and durability, and its bending strength, tensile strength, elastic deformation, etc. are superior to commonly used materials. The strength is more than 10 times that of magnesium alloy, twice that of stainless steel and titanium alloy; the hardness is more than 10 times that of magnesium alloy, more than 1.5 times that of stainless steel and titanium alloy; the degree of elastic deformation is more than 10 times that of stainless steel.


1.2 Curved Road Overtaking, Leading the Development of New Liquid Metal Materials in China
In 2014, NASA of the United States ranked liquid metal cooling as one of the ten frontiers. Although China's liquid metal R&D started relatively late, it gradually overtakes. Before 2000, the study of liquid metals basically only occurred in the United States and Japan. China's research began in 2004 and has gradually developed into industrialization through four stages: R&D and small-scale testing, market cultivation, the formation of a research and development community, and the close integration of production, education, and research.


The history of the development of human civilization has inspired us: a class of materials, an era. The development of liquid metal and industrialization in China is the world leader. Through the continuous improvement of technology, as of 2016, 9 companies have entered the industrialization of bulk amorphous materials and 15 research centers at all levels.

1.3 Liquid metal has been applied in many fields, with potential market space
Liquid metal has begun to be used in environmental protection, electronic equipment, machinery manufacturing, military industry, medical field, sports equipment, oil and gas industry and other fields. Specific products include: transformers, consumer electronics components (such as SIM card tray, USB interface, spindle, middle frame Etc.), high-precision printers, automotive parts, aircraft tails, scalpels, fixtures, golf club heads, clocks and watches, frames, etc.; in the future, liquid metal materials are expected to take the lead in 3C, and in automotive, medical, aerospace There are many promising areas.


1.3.1 Rapid sales growth and potential market space
After many years of technological precipitation, the high probability of 2018 becomes the outbreak of the liquid metal industry. According to incomplete statistics from Liquid Metal, since 2014, the sales volume of liquid metal internal products has exceeded 20 million units, the market sales of external products have exceeded 5 million units, and the sales volume of automotive products has exceeded 500,000 units. The competitive liquid metal middle frame products have passed the trial production of many domestic brands and have been reviewed by well-known domestic brand customers. During the same period, a number of brand customers were approached and the liquid metal middle frame was designed. It is planned to be applied to products in 2018.


1.3.2 Small pieces of liquid metal are expected to open the 3C market first
According to market forecasts, only China-made mobile phone parts (Cato, buttons, lens rings, LED coils, hinges) reached 1.64 billion yuan in 2015, and the market demand has further expanded. As research and development continue to deepen and applications continue to be discovered, we are optimistic about the prospects for the application of bulk amorphous alloys in precision molding and other fields.


Liquid metal is superior and shorter in performance and process than MIM. The two technologies are expected to complement each other. Liquid metal, with its excellent shrinkage, may gradually replace the existing technology in some areas (such as the lens ring) to achieve higher dimensional accuracy and more repeatable molds. To further reduce costs.
The back cover of the glass can't be drilled like an aluminum alloy, and it can't be used as a support bracket for the camera and fingerprint. Therefore, a metal support is needed. The liquid metal has advantages in the cost of these small parts. Huawei millet has been used in small batches, and large customers have already sent samples. , The module factory is also following up.


1.4 There is no best material, only the most suitable material: From the iPhone and 5G era
In time and place, the 5G era and the metal frame will inject new vitality into the liquid metal. Liquid metal is not an attempt to gain access to 3C and medical devices. It can be costly, difficult to apply, and industrialized. For example, a Ferrari sports car on a muddy track has no room for development.

1.4.1 The 10th Anniversary of the iPhone's Inception

The material of the iPhone back cover experienced the change of "aluminum fuselage - plastic - glass - aluminum alloy - glass". The metal fuselage is the most used material since the iPhone 5 was adopted in 2012. A total of five generations of iPhones have adopted a metal machine. Body, glass (plus iPhone X) for a total of 3 generations, 2 generations using plastic, the first generation of the use of aluminum fuselage. This year, the iPhone 8/8P uses double-sided glass plus a 7-series aluminum alloy middle frame. The iPhone X uses double-sided glass plus a stainless steel frame. The metal box will become the mainstream in the next 2-3 years.


1.4.2 5G era, non-metal back cover brings box opportunities
In the metal box + non-metallic: 5G communications will use more than 3Ghz spectrum, the wavelength of the millimeter wave is very short, the interference from the metal is very severe, the PCB circuit board and metal objects need to maintain a clearance of 1.5mm. The metal back cover will bring great difficulties to the antenna design at both low and high frequencies. If wireless charging is introduced, the back cover can only use non-metal.

In order to meet 5G signal requirements, with the rise of 3D glass and ceramic cover plates, the requirements for various aspects such as the strength of the middle frame are getting higher and higher, and high-strength metals such as stainless steel and steel-aluminum composite materials are gradually becoming the focus. Aluminum alloy has long been the protagonist of the middle frame material of mobile phones. Xiaomi 6 and iPhone 8 have adopted stainless steel again after the fourth-generation model stainless steel middle frame. Huawei nova2 Plus adopts steel-aluminum composite materials, and some end customers have started to move toward it. Stainless steel and steel-aluminum composite die-casting and other new materials are being developed.


1.4.3 Smartphones will become an important market for liquid metal, and the future of smart phones belongs to the era of 5G
China Mobile announced relevant plans in MWCS: in 2017, the second phase of 5G testing, a large-scale trial network in 2018, 5G network construction in 19 years, and commercial use in 20 years. Telecom and China Unicom will follow up on the commercial rhythm of mobile 5G. During the two conferences in 2017, the draft "13th Five-Year Plan" outline is clear, and actively promote the research of key technologies for the fifth-generation mobile communications (5G) and ultra-broadband, and achieve the 5G commercial goal by 2020.


Before 2021, the market penetration of 4G mobile phones and 5G mobile phones will reach 80%. It is estimated that by 2021, the global sales of 5G mobile phones will reach 100 million, and the mainstream 5G mobile phone market will be developed in North America and Asia-Pacific countries. The future mobile Internet will enter the era of 5G.

1.4.4 Industry Promotion: Costs, Processes, and Patents Are the Key Issues in the Application of New Materials
Compared with stainless steel CNC, powder metallurgy, MIM and other processes, liquid metal has an advantage in cost. Compared with stainless steel, the application of liquid metal in the mobile phone frame has two major advantages: cost advantage and performance advantage. We estimate that liquid metal will reduce costs by more than 30% compared to the stainless steel middle frame.

1. Cost advantages:

a) Material Costs: Since the production process of the two materials determines the difference in material utilization. Liquid metal raw materials can be re-melted, the utilization rate of up to 95%. The utilization of stainless steel is only 10%. Therefore, although the cost of liquid metal raw materials is relatively high, due to the very high utilization rate, the cost comparison of the two materials is similar. Taking into account the through-through yield, the initial period of liquid metal is 40%-60%, while that of stainless steel is 20%-60%, but due to the short process of liquid metal, the yield rate will climb faster in the future.

b) Time cost: In the first stage of molding, the liquid metal uses the net molding technology and can be completed only by one die casting process. In contrast, the stainless steel forging process requires up to 11 steps such as blanking, forging, and sandblasting. In the latter stage of processing, the current liquid metal processing time is less than 50% of that of stainless steel, and it can reach 30% to 40% through the product optimized structure design later. In the case of a complex structure, the cost of the CNC does not increase due to the complexity of the product structure, so the liquid metal has a clear advantage.


Technological breakthrough:
• Precision net molding 90% structure die-casting one time forming, precision guarantee

• Reduced the 30-segment process of the stainless steel middle frame to the liquid metal 10-segment process to facilitate the process control

• The CNC time is reduced by more than 70%; CNC tool and process optimization, integrated CNC costs reduce by 50% compared with stainless steel solutions.

• T processing and nano-injection achieved 43MPa, exceeding the nano-injection level of aluminum alloy.

• Automated surface polishing technology to achieve a perfect light effect

• Welding: Laser penetration welding of liquid metal and stainless steel/copper-iron alloys exceeding 300 MPa.


2. Performance advantages: As mentioned above, liquid metals are inherently high in strength, high in hardness and high in elasticity, and have excellent wear resistance and corrosion resistance. Although higher in density than aluminum, magnesium, titanium and other alloys. However, its unit strength (MPa•cm3/g) is several times higher than other materials. In addition, it is also outstanding in heat dissipation, electromagnetic shielding performance and other aspects.

We believe that supporting resources are the key factors restricting the industrialization and scale application of liquid metals. How to integrate industrial resources, concentrate R&D strength, and expand sales channels will directly affect the arrival of industry inflection points. There are three resource matching issues: materials, equipment, and process control.
First, materials: The formulation of the material greatly influences the properties that are realized under the condition of reusing the material. The liquid metal can be rapidly cooled in a high vacuum environment based on various metals such as iron, cobalt, zirconium, etc. Therefore, the selection and continuous optimization of the material are key to the development.

Second, equipment manufacturing: the formation of liquid metal requires adequate cooling rate and ensure the purity of the vacuum system and precision mold design, process and equipment quantification method is the key to success.

Third, the process control: the first stage of material forming and the latter stage laser, CNC design will continue to optimize the liquid metal process time cost. As a new material application, the post-production ramp-up process is the key to further reducing costs and expanding production capacity.


1.4.5 Company A Purchases LQMT's Patent Use Right, Optimistic about the Future of Liquid Metals
We believe that Apple's deployment of liquid metal and its use on a few small parts have shown its appetite for the technology, and wait for the maturity of the technology and market. Yi'an Technology will benefit in depth. Apple purchased the patented technology from LQMT in 2010. Apple can obtain the permanent and global use rights of the company's patent content in the field of consumer electronics (which has been applied to the iPhone 3GS Sim card pin). In addition to being able to apply patent content on its own products, it is also possible to decide whether to grant patent content to other companies and collect authorization fees; LQMT still retains the authority to use and authorize other related patents in other fields.