Comment Liquidmetal mentioned in Discover article (Score 2, Interesting) 110
In the Discover article, one of the companies attempting to capitalize on amorphous metals is LiquidMetal. The stuff has been used in Head tennis rackets, golf clubs, hinges in cell phones, etc. A friend of mine has tested the head racket and he said you can really feel it return the energy better than other rackets.
Although the Discover article says that knives can be easily cast (e.g., for surgical purposes, disposable knives can be made much more easily), the metal isn't as hard as hand-made knives. This is sort of surprising given its glassy properties -- the ads by Liquidmetal show a steel ball bouncing for minutes on a slab of the stuff.
See this link http://www.rayrogers.com/lm.htm for one knifemaker's experience in dealing with the stuff (the RC rating is in the mid 50's if I recall). Still very promising technology though. Once the cost comes down I think it will have a very wide range of applications.
Although the Discover article says that knives can be easily cast (e.g., for surgical purposes, disposable knives can be made much more easily), the metal isn't as hard as hand-made knives. This is sort of surprising given its glassy properties -- the ads by Liquidmetal show a steel ball bouncing for minutes on a slab of the stuff.
See this link http://www.rayrogers.com/lm.htm for one knifemaker's experience in dealing with the stuff (the RC rating is in the mid 50's if I recall). Still very promising technology though. Once the cost comes down I think it will have a very wide range of applications.
