Liquidmetal Technologies Inc (LQMT)

[Gamesc]

I had shared this a while back and now officially a patent from NG.


http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=%22Metallic+glass%22&OS=%22Metallic+glass%22&RS=%22Metallic+glass%22

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At least a portion of the shaft body 112 spaced from the proximal shaft end 108 is a bondable portion 114 which is at least partially made of a bondable material. Optionally, any or all of the bolt 102 may be made of a bondable material. The term "bondable material" is used herein to indicate a material which is amenable to attachment to another (same or different) material via a diffusion bonding process. Diffusion bonding is a process for joining two components which involves no liquid fusion or filler metal. No weight is added to the total, and the diffusion bonded join tends to exhibit both the strength and temperature resistance of the base material(s). The materials endure no, or very little, plastic deformation; very little residual stress is introduced; and there is little or no contamination from the bonding process. Diffusion bonding may be performed on a join surface of theoretically any size with no increase in processing time; practically speaking, the surface tends to be limited by the pressure required and physical limitations of the diffusion bonding process and associated machinery. Diffusion may be performed, for example, with similar and dissimilar metals, reactive and refractory metals, and/or pieces of varying thicknesses. An example of a bondable material is an amorphous metal, such as those available from Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. The term "bondable", as used herein, does not encompass a strictly adhesive (e.g., glue or other "sticky" added material) connection scheme which does not use a "bondable material".

An amorphous metal (also known as "metallic glass" or "glassy metal") is a solid metallic material, usually an alloy, with a disordered atomic-scale structure. Most metals are crystalline in their solid state, which means they have a highly ordered arrangement of atoms. Amorphous metals are non-crystalline, and have a glass-like structure. Unlike common glasses (such as window glass), which are typically insulators, amorphous metals have good electrical conductivity. There are several ways in which amorphous metals can be produced, including extremely rapid cooling, physical vapor deposition, solid-state reaction, ion irradiation, and mechanical alloying. “