Making use of its alliance with Liquidmetal Technologies Inc (OTCMKTS:LQMT), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) won a U.S. patent on course of producing products layer-by-layer utilizing bulk-strengthening amorphous alloys, termed as bulk metallic glasses.
The technology
The concept of Liquidmetal enables alloys be cooled and solidified at slow rates and maintain a non-crystalline and amorphous state at room temperature. The concept states that if cooling doesn’t occur quickly, then crystals can be created.
As a result it can undo the advantages of the amorphous form of the entire process. The defined procedure would consider manufacturing with liquefied bulk metallic glass in discrete droplets or a constant stream, which can be applied in several positions on an item and repetitively, layer-over-layer.
The details
The patent is granted to a Liquidmetal subsidiary firm, Crucible Intellectual Property and to Apple. Also, three of the recognized inventors, Theodore Andrew Waniuk, Christopher D. Prest and Joseph C. Poole work with Apple. The fourth inventor Joseph Stevick is associated with Liquidmetal. Waniuk also had worked with Liquidmetal at some time in the past.
Apple has a patent licensing deal with Liquidmetal Technologies, but it is not clear if the concept has been utilized for any other application beyond SIM card tray pins. The use could be in certain internal parts. The company has been designing mass manufacturing techniques in order to reduce costs.
The performance
As per the latest financial report released last month, Liquidmetal had cash of $6.2 million. It reported current assets of $8.6 million and $901,000 as current liabilities. The quarterly revenue came at $23,000 and quarterly net loss was $2.47 million
In last trading session, the stock price of Liquidmetal Technologies Inc (OTCMKTS:LQMT) declined more than 3% to close the trading session at $0.132. The decline came at a share volume of 1.68 million compared to average share volume of 1.18 million.
