Methods for forming electronic device housings
AssigneeMeta Platforms Technologies, LLC
InventorsZhicong Yao, Luke Murphy, Robert Liang, Eric Santini
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Housings for electronic devices may include a steel body, such as a stainless steel body, that has an outer portion and an inner portion. The outer portion may exhibit an average Vickers hardness of 200 HV or higher. The inner portion may exhibit an average Vickers hardness of 180 HV or lower. The lower hardness of the inner portion may facilitate working the material of the inner portion, such as to form attachment points, protrusions, holes, or other features. Various additional devices, methods, and systems are also disclosed.
Claims19
A housing for an electronic device, comprising:
- a steel body including an outer portion and an inner portion, wherein
- the outer portion exhibits an average Vickers hardness of 200 HV or higher and
- the inner portion exhibits an average Vickers hardness of 180 HV or lower;
- and
- at least one biometric sensor configured to sense at least one biometric of a user.
An electronic device, comprising:
- a housing, comprising a stainless steel body including a radially outer portion and a radially inner portion, wherein:
- the radially outer portion exhibits an average Vickers hardness of 200 HV or higher and the radially inner portion exhibits an average Vickers hardness of 180 HV or lower, a difference between the average Vickers hardness of the radially outer portion and the average Vickers hardness of the radially inner portion is at least 100 HV, and the radially inner portion comprises at least one machined feature;
- and
- the housing further comprises at least one biometric sensor configured to sense at least one biometric of a user.
A method of forming a housing for an electronic device, the method comprising:
- heating an inner portion of a cold-drawn steel material to reduce a hardness of the steel material of the inner portion while maintaining an outer portion of the cold-drawn steel material at a lower temperature than the inner portion, such that the outer portion exhibits a higher hardness than the inner portion;
- and
- after the heating, machining at least one feature in the inner portion of the cold-drawn steel material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.