Replies to post #21826 on Liquidmetal Technologies Inc (LQMT)

[LQMTHOPE]

Thank you Watts. You clariffied my thoughts (i was heading down the right road in my mind, but when I said it out loud is sounded foreign lol.)

I am not looking for a different investment as far as the moulding goes- I know enough to stick to one game at a time. However, the points you explained definitely clarified it for me. The more I read about this field/product, as normal, the more questions I have developed.

Thanks for putting all the conections in plain english for me - i think i have read too many scientifical details and patents tonight (holy confusing language there, Batman)

I aprreciate the response.

To me LQMT is a gamble, one that I beleive can pay off, but time will tell.

[Anax]

"Making the fuel cell components as described here will be much more efficiently blow-molded than injection molded."

wrong! they neither use blow-molded nor injection molded techniques, but thermoplastic based nanoimprinting techniques, a "procedure to produce micron scale and nanoscale patterns in the amorphous metallic layer" (http://www.google.de/patents/US20100098967?hl=de&dq=20100098967&ei=Z9HFUM6rJIagtAah9ICoAw)

Their patent is still pending

In the recent publication "Bulk Metallic Glass Micro Fuel Cell" (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smll.201201647/abstract) [use instituional login for full access]

they further mentioned:

"Such TPF-based embossing can be carried out massively parallel in short time frames, [ 20 ] which suggests a fast and inexpensive manufacturing process."

ref: [20] (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn9003633)

And referring the point of nanoimprinting lithography, or offset-printing using conductive inks of either organic nanostructured polymers or bmg`s (see here liquid-x), any machinery for large-scale production hasn´t yet been produced. THough equipment leaders are working on these processes, i doubt to see a machinery for Roll-to-Plate Nanoimprint Lithography in the next 2-3 years, and in the case of MFC`s there will be some years to come, if not even a decade.

IMO the whole discussion about the recent developments of schroer and Johnson are totally unimportant relating LQMT. (even though we do not know, which pending patents will moreover be assigned for LQMT, and even though the rapid charging by johnson can be easily adopted by Engel)

Their is an unofficial law of innovation processes, which means that you need about 5-7 years to get your innovation (methods or prototypes performed/developed under lab-conditions) into real shipping.

So I dont care about the latest advancements, because they will not mean a threat in the coming years. Thatswhy apple is not investing in schroerslab, or the new caltech`s glassimetal, but in LQMT. Because it is LQMT and their partners, who have gained experiences in the innovation process of getting beyond prototypes - and to further mention because of the importance of the basic patents (thermoplastic casting of amorpous alloy & Method of forming molded articles of amorphous alloy with high elastic limit, etc.)

The manufacturing process in Apple`s patent: "collector plates of bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys"

(http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN/7862957)

is imo strongly referring to LQMT`s thermoplastic casting. though "casting" is a sub class of injection molding, the focus lies on thermoplastic handling

APple:
"1) Providing a sheet feedstock of amorphous alloy being substantially amorphous, and having an elastic strain limit of about 1.5% or greater and having a .DELTA.T of 30.degree. C. or greater; 2) Heating the feedstock to around the glass transition temperature; 3) Shaping the heated feedstock into the desired shape; and 4) Cooling the formed sheet to temperatures far below the glass transition temperature. "

LQMT:
"providing a quantity of an amorphous alloy in a molten state; cooling said molten amorphous alloy to an intermediate thermoplastic forming temperature above the glass transition temperature of the amorphous alloy at a rate sufficiently fast to avoid crystalhzation of the amorphous alloy; 10 stabilizing the temperature of the amorphous alloy at the intermediate thermoplastic forming temperature; shaping the amorphous alloy under a shaping pressure at the intermediate thermoplastic forming temperature for a period of time sufficiently 15 short to avoid crystalhzation of the amorphous alloy to form a molded part; and cooling the molded part to ambient temperature. 30. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the amorphous alloy has a supercooled liquid region (?Tsc) of about 30 °C or more, where ?Tsc is defined as the difference of the onset of crystallization of the amorphous alloy 84. The article as described in claim 69 wherein the article has an elastic limit of more than about 1.5%."

im looking forward to your response; sry for bad writing
best greetings from germany