HEAD Launches Liquidmetal Skis for 2005/2006 Season at Munich Trade Show

Business Wire ^ | February 9, 2005

[strategofr]

LAKE FOREST, Calif. -- Liquidmetal(R) Technologies Inc. (OTC:LQMT) announced today that the winter sports division of Head NV (NYSE:HED) has added a Liquidmetal line of skis to be offered for the 2005/2006 ski season.

The ultimate energy return of the Liquidmetal alloy is incorporated within a Liquidmetal(R) jacket that covers the entire length of the ski core. Given the fact that the Liquidmetal alloy does not deform on impact, combined with the torsional stability of the HEAD Intelligence(TM) technology, designers are now able to offer a ski with increased response and power. Several of HEAD's ski lines will take advantage of the Liquidmetal technology, including Thang for women, XRC skicross, Worldcup racing, All-Mountain Cruising and Monster freeride.

HEAD first incorporated Liquidmetal technology in their tennis racquets two years ago, and they were recently voted #1 in product innovation by Fortune Magazine.

About Liquidmetal Technologies

Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc., http://www.liquidmetal.com, is the leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of products made from amorphous alloys. Amorphous alloys are unique materials that are characterized by a random atomic structure, in contrast to the crystalline atomic structure possessed by ordinary metals and alloys.

Bulk Liquidmetal alloys are two to three times stronger than commonly used titanium alloys, harder than tool steel, and relatively non-corrosive and wear resistant. Bulk Liquidmetal alloys can also be molded into precision net-shaped parts similar to plastics, resulting in intricate and sophisticated engineered designs. Liquidmetal Technologies is the first company to produce amorphous alloys in commercially viable bulk form, enabling significant improvements in products across a wide array of industries.

The combination of a super alloy's performance coupled with unique processing advantages positions Liquidmetal alloys for what the company believes will be The Third Revolution(TM) in material science.

[strategofr]

somewhat cool.

[isthisnickcool]

That is kind of cool but if ye be nice laddie I'll tell you the molecular structure for 'transparent aluminum'.

[kstewskis]

Has anyone seen these at the SIA show this year?

[TexasTransplant]

I wish I would have bought Stock in Head skis years ago, they are the Nike / Microsoft / McDonalds of their Industry.

(Sidebar, when I was much younger and I cared about skiing, we used to sneak out to the Head Ski Factory where they had a pile of broken skis, seems if they were not up to standard they would break them and dispose of them in this HUGE pile, well industrious teens as we were would try to find matching pairs of broken skis (and poles) and then we took our skis to a ski repair guy and he would repair them, we'd end up next ski season sporting $1,000.00 skis for about $250.00 and if they didn't perform like $1,000.00 skis we would never know the difference since most of the time we hung out at the Lodge anyway, but we had "Head" skis! (Nerds need an edge)

TT

[raybbr]

LiquidMetal was pretty much a bust for tennis racquets. There was no appreciable difference in the performance of the racquets. Head has even moved on to the Flexpoint racquet which replaces the Liquidmetal.

[King Prout]

eh?

[Final Authority]

Every time something like this comes up you post this annoying thing about transparent aluminum.

It has been around before Star Trek, BTW, it is called aluminum oxide, or in the transparent and chemically pure state, synthetic sapphire. The Swiss have been using this material for several decades for jewels in their watches. It is used as watch crystals and for optical materials in infrared optics. It is also used in places where glass just isn't good enough, like in every optical scanner in every supermarket you may frequent. That square window is transparent aluminum or sapphire or Al2 O3.

[King Prout]

did I nae hear ye right, Laddie? di'ye say transparent aluminium?

[Final Authority]

Head is part of a European conglomerate and is not the American company it once was. They do not lead the industry as they once did, however, many of the branded products are quite good. I have a pair of Head Super Cross Titanium skis that are very good ($795 list price) and I need to keep them until skis come back to reasonable lengths again. (these are 195 cm but all new skis do not go beyond 178 cm. I am used to ski on 207s)

[isthisnickcool]

Every time something like this comes up you post this annoying thing about transparent aluminum.

How nice of you to read all of my past "transparent aluminum" posts. How many have you seen?

[isthisnickcool]

did I nae hear ye right, Laddie? di'ye say transparent aluminium?

Sorry, but apparently I've posted way too many time about that so I can't respond. The "TA" hall monitor is here and has caught me.

[King Prout]

yeah, I saw.

the "TA hall monitor" makes essentially the same point I did, though less pleasantly: transparent aluminum is a reality.

every time I see anyone posting the startrek bit, I wonder if they are not aware that synthetic corundum has been commonplace in multiple applications for decades, and that aluminum oxynitride is the scottyism made flesh.

[isthisnickcool]

Well, if I ever make another post about TA, which will be my second one by the way, I'll keep in mind to add "sarcasm off" because you never know when someone might think I'm being series.

[Boazo]

[freedumb2003]

[Final Authority]

Too many, and BTW, you ain't cool either.

[RadioAstronomer]

I had samples of this kind of stuff back in the 80s. :-)

http://www.metglas.com/

[Old Professer]

The advantage to the technology is in its ability to be molded or pressure formed in much the same way as thermoplastics now are commonly done; this allows the repeated reuse of the molds with almost no machining of the final product and should lead to lower cost quality goods; by first concentrating on high-end high performance toys we are losing sight of the true revolution at hand.

[isthisnickcool]

Too many, and BTW, you ain't cool either.

I don't recall ever posting anything about transparent aluminum before. I'm pretty sure that any thread where James Doohan was the topic may have had some reference to it but probably not by me. I thought maybe you were being amusing or clever and I was playing along. Oops! That's not the case.

I admit I have recently been a bit focused on illegal immigration since I live in Texas. I've used a graphic from an old Bogart movie (see stinkin badges) and have probably used it too many times. I also was a bit fixated on the Team America movie and may have used some graphics from it too many times. I also had an ongoing story about how Bill Clinton's penis would become afraid around Hillary and jump off and run away. There are some other things I may have harped on more than once. I have not changed my tag line for weeks now either! And for that I'm deeply deeply really gosh aweful sorry. (This kind of reminds me of confession.)

So, I may have sinned by posting a few things (except when it comes to TA) more than once and now you tell me I'm not "cool". I'm amazed that JimRob has not banned me himself! Hopefully since you showed me my place here he will let me stay....

[TexasTransplant]

>>>>"by first concentrating on high-end high performance toys we are losing sight of the true revolution at hand"<<<<

Old Professor aka Sage

I remember the News story about the computing power of gameboys or Atari or what ever and how they were being combined and converted into weapons by those that did not have access to other computers.

We underestimate ourselves often.

On the horizon we have Nano tech, very efficient Nuclear and hopefully as source of power Fusion (other than the Sun) and "Necessity is the Mother of Invention".


TT