A pair of fresh patents published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this week confirms Apple’s continued use of Liquidmetal. The Cupertino company is yet to employ Liquidmetal technologies for any salable products, but patents like these suggest it could do sometime in the future.
Apple has used Liquidmetal to manufacture the iPhone’s SIM ejector tool, which is what helps make it incredibly sturdy, but today’s patent filings suggest it is working on doing a lot more with the material.
In one patent, entitled “Method of using core shell pre-alloy structure to make alloys in a controlled manner,” Apple describes a method for creating a composite material from bulk metallic glasses (BMG) and another metal or metal alloy to combine the best properties of each.
Apple’s patent suggests three different casting variations, including BMG core with metal shell, metal core with BMG shell, and BMG/metal alloy.
These materials are designed to combat the existing issues that can arise when casting BMG, like the forming of crystals within the metal when cooling rates are not optimal. When this happens, the material loses all of its advantageous mechanical properties, Apple notes.
Apple’s second patent, entitled “Cold chamber die casting of amorphous alloys using cold crucible induction melting techniques,” details a method of melting BMG using horizontal cold crucible induction melting (CCIM) systems.
“In one embodiment, feedstock positioned above a cold chamber die caster is melted via induction coil and poured into the cast,” explains AppleInsider. “Using a horizontal technique as opposed to vertical CCIM allows Apple to use a copper crucible for minimizing contamination, a key factor in producing non-crystalline alloys.”
Apple has long been exploring the possibilities of using Liquidmetal, but we’re yet to see it enter the company’s product lineup, and there’s no indication when or in what form it might come. But it’s easy to see why Apple might be looking at alternatives to the aluminum it uses today.
While it’s certainly beautiful, and has its own advantages, aluminum can be scratched, scuffed, and dented relatively easily, and it has a tendency to bend — as the iPhone 6 Plus has proven. However, Apple has begun using series 7000 aluminum, which is much stronger than standard aluminum.
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