New Zealand company Magnesium Technology has signed a $30m contract with Gatech, a Taiwanese die-caster, to supply magnesium cases for Acer and IBM laptop computers. The company sasy it has developed a unique magnesium-coating process working together with the Materials Performance Technology division of Crown Research Institute Industrial Research. Managing director John MacCulloch said Magnesium […]
New Zealand company Magnesium Technology has signed a $30m contract with Gatech, a Taiwanese die-caster, to supply magnesium cases for Acer and IBM laptop computers. The company sasy it has developed a unique magnesium-coating process working together with the Materials Performance Technology division of Crown Research Institute Industrial Research. Managing director John MacCulloch said Magnesium Technology stands to make a large profit from the process as the number of machines to be made using magnesium frames coated by the special process is telephone numbers, it’s enormous.
Magnesium casings are both thinner and lighter than plastic equivalents, and shield electronic devices from electromagnetic radiation, but until now coating techniques have been complex and expensive. Magnesium must be coated to prevent it reacting with the air and other metals.
The New Zealand method consists of dipping the parts in an electrolyte soup and turning the power on, coating the metal in an impervious oxide layer of whatever color the manufacturer wants, MacCulloch said. Heat is the limiting factor on design. The industry is moving away from plastic, which is an insulator, to magnesium, he went on. The deal with Gatech is non-exclusive, and the company is in talks with a number of other computer manufacturers.
