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On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 07:07:44AM -0400, Spehro Pefhany wrote:
> Machining is extremely expensive. You could also pay to have an extrusion die
> made and machine something that is more-or-less the right shape, just as is
> done with aluminum profiles.
> 
> Another interesting trend is injection molding metals directly (or using
> certain indirect methods). This can allow extremely thin-walled and finely
> detailed parts to be created for high volume consumer electronics such as
> cell phones and other portable high performance devices.
> 
> Consider magnesium-- it's only 10% denser than their Polyamide 4,6 
> and something
> like 5 times stronger, so you likely need a lot less of it. Also, it's
> an abundant element and not made from petroleum or natural gas, unlike most
> polymers. Unfortunately, this is still an extremely expensive process in
> every way, so unless you're RIM or Apple it might not be practical.

FWIW I noticed that Cool Polymers, the guys making the thermally
conductive plastic, also has a line of injection mouldable metal alloys
that they claim can be moulded on standard injection molding equipment
and moulds:

http://www.coolpolymers.com/XyloyM950.asp

- -- 
http://petertodd.org 'peter'[:-1]@petertodd.org 
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