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Sometimes we are asked: “Where are your coatings produced?”

Well, our liquid coatings were developed in Australia over ten (10) years ago. To this date, we are still manufacturing our products in the same area.

Liquid Metals, or LIQMET, was invented by our technical manager Felix. It all started after he immigrated to Australia. One of his earliest jobs was for a company that produced custom sculptures and other objects.

Often, the company struggled to obtain necessary materials for its projects. For example, creating a 10-meter-high bronze statue requires a scaffolding of the same size made of wood or foam. This is used to produce a concrete form of the mould, which will then be filled with molten bronze. After waiting a couple of weeks to cool the bronze, the statue would frequently end up broken. It would have obvious cracks on it, and the process must start over. These occurrences put a lot of strain on the company's resources. Even in successful cases, the technology was quite archaic and very labour intensive.

"If only there's a way to pour the bronze coating on top," Felix thought. At the time, it was deemed impossible as bronze has a melting point of 1600 degrees. Pouring it on top of the scaffolds would only cause the entire structure underneath to burn.

Amid the dilemma, an idea arose: to create a material that would simplify the process of making statues and reduce the cost.

After two (2) years of research and development, Felix discovered a way to keep bronze in a liquid state for a longer period and at room temperature. This technique has proven to be effective with other metals as well. And like that, LIQMET was born. Sometime later, the technology was confirmed and patented.

Now, we use our knowledge and technology to help individuals and businesses create beautiful, longer-lasting metal surfaces without stress and hefty labour costs.

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    Keeping Calm in the Chaos

    With the current challenges presented by the coronavirus (COVID-19), it is difficult to think of much else. The Internet is flooded with information about this disease and how to prevent it. Governments of different countries are discouraging people from going to public places, and people have become afraid to touch surfaces in those places. For example, some avoid opening doors by waiting until someone else opens them for them. Furthermore, people now refrain from shaking hands at meetings and hugging friends and family members.

    In the modern world, people continue to move away from the past. We cannot remember everything that was forgotten; we can only touch on what we understand from the past and how it can help us now.

    The antibacterial properties of liquid copper have been known since the nineteenth century. The copper can be applied to different surfaces,  such as door handles, taps, toilet seats, and kitchen doors and bench tops.

    “On copper surfaces, bacteria and viruses die. When a microbe lands on a copper surface, the copper releases ions, which are electrically charged particles. Those copper ions blast through the outer membranes and destroy the whole cell, including the DNA or RNA inside. Because their DNA and RNA are destroyed, it also means a bacteria or virus can’t mutate and become resistant to the copper or pass on genes (like for antibiotic resistance) to other microbes.”
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    Metal Kitchen Design – LIQMET Liquid Metal

    LIQMET metal coatings are a versatile contribution to metal kitchen design.

    The kitchen is the most used room in any house. It is where you lovingly prepare family meals. It stands to reason that if you spend the most time in any room, you should actually like the way it looks.

    LIQMET’s liquid metal is a significant component of many metal kitchen design ideas. A backsplash, kitchen door, bench top, or even lights and décor elements can be coated in metal to give a modern look to the kitchen.

    Kitchen cabinets fully coated in liquid aluminium represent an industrial style. Combining acrylic paint (black, charcoal or turquoise) and metal (brass or gold) – a modern trend – gives your kitchen an absolutely stunning look.

    Not only metal for kitchen doors

    Imagine how modern and stylish your kitchen can look with some cabinet doors painted in black matt acrylic and some cabinet doors coated with brass in LIQMET “Linish” texture!

    Liquid metal panels are good as backsplash. Some favourites to keep an eye on are stainless steel, copper, aluminium, zinc, brass, and bronze – aged or not.

    White kitchen cabinets doors go really well with a platinum backsplash in LIQMET “Modern” texture.

    Refrigerators can be a versatile design feature in kitchens. Refrigerator doors can be painted the same colour as the kitchen (providing a wonderful cohesion) or a contrasting colour, each option adding a unique design accent to your kitchen.

    If you are not yet ready to renovate your kitchen completely or are not sure about fully metal kitchen doors, you can add liquid metal to lights or wall décor.

    Whether your imagination takes you the minimalistic route or leads you to bold vibrant colour and textures, LIQMET liquid metal allows you to realise your unique metal kitchen design.

    LIQMET liquid metal finishes can be riotous too

    How about 4 varieties of rust? Or vivid green or black patina on copper, bronze or brass? Think about limitless combinations of patterns and metals. 

     

    To turn your metal kitchen ideas into reality, contact us or fill the contact form below.

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      Our warranty for liquid metal surfaces

      LIQMET first obtained positive results on the production and use of liquid metals 20 years ago.

       After our employees and clients applied decorative coatings as trial projects, we immediately asked how we could confirm the quality of the materials and ensure the professionalism of applicators.

       

       For this, we developed a quality control system with the following main parameters:

      - Appearance and tactile sensations (cold to the touch)

      - Adhesive properties

      - UV Resistance

      - Durability

      - Weather resistance

       

      To verify this system, we conducted special tests to simulate accelerated weather conditions on the streets of Sydney. After a simulated 30 years, we are proud to provide the following results:

      - Appearance – no visible changes

      - Adhesive properties – no delaminating

      - UV Resistance – no colour or structure changes

      - Durability – no visible scratches, etc

      - Weather resistance – appropriate to real casting without waterproofing and no changes with waterproofing.

       

      Based on these results, as well as analyses of competitors, LIQMET offers a 30-year general warranty for liquid metals, unlike our competitors’ five- or ten-year warranties. With our 30-year warranty for a properly applied metal finish, we guarantee you’ll have no problems with surface cracking, peeling, blistering, chalking, substrate separation or corrosion for an entire generation!

       In addition to the tests above, we are confident in our long warranty through the results of these additional tests conducted by both our employees and customers:

      - Laser cutting – 100% positive result

      - High-speed cutting – no delaminating and chips

      - Fire-retardant test – five minutes of straight flame

      - Cast samples – withstood 50 years in an accelerated test

       Our warranty is subject to two simple conditions. We want to know where our materials will be used, and we want to know who will apply it.

       That second condition can seriously affect the application quality and alter the durability of our metals. To help our clients properly prepare, apply and polish surfaces for specific projects, we have created a technical support line with experts ready to help solve any problems throughout the process. We also developed a two-day program to teach people how to use LIQMET coatings correctly within our new 400m2 training centre.

       All of these results, along with our 20 years of production of liquid metals and thousands of completed works around the world allow us to proudly claim that LIQMET maintains the highest quality standards in the industry.

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      Laser Cutting and Liquid Metal Coatings

      In another recent story, we were approached by the director of the Australian representative office of Trotec, which manufactures and sells professional laser cutters for signwriters and furniture manufacturers, to name a few. To date, they are Australia's largest supplier of such equipment and related materials. In addition to equipment, Trotec also produces PVC plastic panels for use in the signwriting industry.

      Trotec wanted to provide its customers with luxury metal panels that did not look cheap and felt that the best solution was the newest panel covered by Liqmet metal coatings. Trotec company decided to conduct a series of tests by preparing several samples and covering them with various LIQMET metals and textures using multiple application techniques. They thrust them under a laser knife in excitement. And nothing....

      Even the samples on which our metal was applied without preparation underwent laser cutting without a single chip or delaminating.

      The photo shows that the surface around the cut has no damage. This result surprised not only our partners, but also ourselves. PVC plastic panels covered in our liquid metal coatings can be cut without damage. Isn’t it good!

      However, we recommend to cut panels before metal application because the edges after cutting will be uncoated in metal finish.