Engineers have figured out how to
mass produce and shape metallic
glass, and are using it to create the
toughest smartphone case yet.

Image Here
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Researchers at Yale University in the
US have created a thin, lightweight smartphone case that’s harder than steel but as easy to shape as plastic.
The case is made from bulk metallic
glass (BMG) - a class of strong but
flexible materials that have been
around for years but, until recently,
engineers have struggled to find a way to shape them into useful
structures.

BMGs, or amorphous metals, are
alloys that are made up of a
combination of metals, but don't
have an orderly metallic atomic
structure in their solid state. Unlike
normal metals, which crytallise when they're cooled below melting point,
BMGs are cooled so fast that the
liquid freezes without crystallising,
essentially "locking in" a glassy state.
This gives them a range of awesome
properties, such as superior strength and a plastic-like flexibility.

Now Jan Shroers, a mechanical
engineer and material scientist from
Yale, has developed a new way of
printing supercool metals into sheets,
allowing them to be easily moulded
into different shapes with very little energy input - something Shroers
has called “thermoplastic forming”.

Instead of melting down BMGs and
trying to force them into a mould, as
had previously been attempted,
Shroers takes the sheets and uses
gas pressure to deform them into the
correct shape. While Shroers has used this new technique to turn
BMGs into speciality production items
such as watch components and
sensors, he’s now set his sights on
very shiny smartphone cases.

“It’s obvious. The important
properties in a cell phone case are
hardness and weight," said Shroers. “This material is 50 times harder than plastic, nearly 10 times
harder than aluminum and almost
three times the hardness of steel.”

The case also requires little energy to
produce and is pretty to look at. But
importantly, because it's harder than
normal metals, it can't be scratched
by keys or other items rattling
around in your bag.

Of course, the BMG material won’t
cover your iPhone screen, but the lip
on the case will help take the force
when you drop it face-down

Shroers is now hoping to scale up
the process and have the
smartphone cases on the market
within the next couple of years.
Hopefully that’s soon enough to stop
you shattering your next iPhone.