Liquidmetal has been around for a long time now but it is only now that it gets the popularity that it deserves, mainly because of the fact that Apple Inc. has been showing an interest in using the new technology in their brand new devices. According to John Kang liquidmetal may very well be something that will be incredibly used in the future, in domains of activity ranging from medicine to artificial intelligence.
John Kang MC is a renowned general surgeon with perfect ethics and reputation. It is really important that we learn more about it. The metal appeared in the year 2003 and kept being developed. We have seen it used in baseball bats, golf clubs, was sent right to space and was even included in a drilling rig. We see many applications taking advantage of the properties of liquidmetal in consumer electronics, like USB drives.
The Science Behind Liquidmetal
Officially, liquidmetal is a metal alloys class that was in the past known by the name bulk metallic glasses. This is a material that shares many properties we see in glass. Integrity losses only appear at high temperature in a gradual way, instead of losing integrity at a specific melting point. Liquidmetal is practically made out of different materials you already know, like copper, aluminium, nickel and titanium.
The main thing that stands out is how liquidmetal is made. The alloy is not just mixed and then let off to cool itself. The amorphous alloys cool much faster. By doing this the atomic structure of the alloy is changed. Basic properties are altered. The regular metals normally have an ordered, crystalline atomic structure. This is why deformity appears when flexed or struck. The amorphous alloys have unordered, chaotic atoms that quickly spring back into the initial shape, similarly to what happens with the liquid. We have directional grains in most metals, similarly to what we see with wood, but this is not present in liquidmetal.
Simply put, liquidmetal is much different than the other alloys that are amorphous because it is so much easier to manufacture. Let’s simplify things by saying that liquidmetal will not need to be cooled fast. It can also be cooled in much greater quantities.
Why Use Liquidmetal?
Liquidmetal ends up being really useful in various different applications, especially wherever a moldable piece is recommended. Using something that is hard is not always possible. If you need something that is flexible, liquidmetal might be a good choice.
One of the obvious applications is related to gadgets. With the use of liquidmetal you can create stronger devices while not having to deal with extra weight that is normally associated with other alloys. This is particularly important because of the fact that users want devices that are smaller and smaller. While we do have numerous smartphones that are larger and larger, if we look at most phones sold, they are getting smaller and smaller.
Make sure that you take a quick look at what changes in the future with liquidmetal since it will be a big alloy in many devices.
