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Defense and Tactical Applications
Liquidmetal Technologies has partnered for several years with many Department of Defense agencies and contractors to enhance defense and tactical product performance. Our alloys have 2-3 times the strength of both stainless steel and titanium yet can be molded like plastic into complex shapes and parts. We also have done work with the US Army developing penetrators and armor piercing shells. Liquidmetal® alloys and composites material properties are highly beneficial for numerous Space, Air, Land and Sea applications. The Liquidmetal optimized process, chemistry and atomic structure enables near net-shape processing characteristics making the fabrication of highly sophisticated and complex structures possible while eliminating most secondary machining and processing.
The properties of Liquidmetal alloys suitable for the defense applications are:
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The Department of Defense has extensively researched Liquidmetal for Kinetic Energy Penetrator (KEP) rod. The KEP, the key component of the highly effective armor piercing ammunition system, currently utilizes Depleted Uranium (DU) because of its density and self-sharpening behavior. Ballistic tests conducted by the Army have proven that the Liquidmetal composites exhibit self-sharpening similar to the DU KEP, but environmentally benign KEP rods.
The high strength and lightweight attributes of Liquidmetal alloys enable the Department of Defense to support its transformation toward lighter smaller and more cost effective systems. Liquidmetal Technologies is supporting research and development for a wide range of military applications.
Examples include:
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