May 29 2014
Liquidmetal® Technologies, Inc. the leading developer of amorphous alloys and composites, announced that it had recently participated in a development project with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to demonstrate the properties of amorphous alloys in mechanical devices that transfer or transform force, motion, or energy to another point through elastic deformation.
Compliant mechanisms are advantageous since they provide benefit by reducing part count, simplifying manufacturing and reducing assembly time and cost.
Designed by JPL and LQMT, bistable flexural mechanisms were fabricated at Visser Precision Cast, LLC (VPC) by injection molding of LM-001B alloy into a split mold cavity under an inert environment. When tested in a load frame the LM-001B mechanisms displayed bistability, successfully showing a clear intermediate unstable point while having a two-fold increased factor of safety when compared to those made of titanium (Ti-6-4).
The collaboration resulted in publication of a significant article, “New Methods for Developing and Manufacturing Compliant Mechanisms Utilizing Bulk Metallic Glass,” in Advanced Engineering Materials. The article reports that “[amorphous alloys] are shown to have an optimal combination of mechanical properties and processing ability, making them ideal for complex, low-cost compliant mechanisms...[This work] pushes the envelope for integration into widespread commercial applications by allowing high mechanical performance to be achieved in complex components that can be cast like polymers.”
Source: http://www.liquidmetal.com