While initially the thought was that Apple would use the exclusively licensed Liquidmetal technology for mobile device shells or maybe antennas, according to a patent published today, Apple is looking to use the technology for internal batteries. Although the patent doesn’t reference the term “Liquidmetal” specifically, the term “bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy” suggests Liquidmetal.
Collector plates made of bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys, the bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys providing ruggedness, lightweight structure, excellent resistance to chemical and environmental effects, and low-cost manufacturing, and methods of making such collector plates from such bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys are provided.
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Bulk solidifying amorphous alloys are a recently discovered family of amorphous alloys, which can be cooled at substantially lower cooling rates, of about 500 K/sec or less, and substantially retain their amorphous atomic structure. As such, they can be produced in thicknesses of 1.0 mm or more, substantially thicker than conventional amorphous alloys, which are typically limited to thicknesses of 0.020 mm, and which require cooling rates of 105 K/sec or more.
According to some experts, utilizing the technology Apple could create mobile devices with battery power lasting 30 days or more and MacBooks with battery life of 20 hours or more. Apple is already using Liquidmetal today for the SIM eject tool that comes with the iPhone. Inventors of the Liquidmetal technology have previously predicted that Apple will use it to build the next iPhone.
Liquidmetal alloys represent the first enabling materials technology since the creation of thermoplastics and possess characteristics that make them superior in many ways to other commercially-viable materials. First, they have an “amorphous” atomic structure, which is unprecedented for structural metals. Second, they include a multi-component chemical composition, which can be optimized for various properties and processes. Finally, they lend themselves to process technology similar to that possessed by plastics.
Source: Free Patents Online, Cult of Mac
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