Hot alloy

摘要

Metallurgists have been trying for years to find a way to commercialize amorphous alloys, metals that are stronger and lighter than any on the market. Liquidmetal Technologies of Lake Forest, California, appears to have the best shot at making the breakthrough. It has been selling golf clubs made of these amorphous alloys since 1998, and now Ping and Cleveland Golf, two manufacturers of golf clubs, will also use Liquid-metal's technology to make them. John Kang, the company's CEO, is also looking to sell the knowhow elsewhere. "The metal guys were always trying to figure out how to take metals and process them like plastics, costwise. If you could do that, people would pick [metals] over plastics any day," says Kang. "Now that we've done that, we're changing the playing field."