JP3704441B2 - Golf club head face - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a golf club, and an object of the present invention is to provide a golf club head face having characteristics that have not been obtained conventionally by using a clad material for the face.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, golf club heads in which a metal plate is combined with a face are generally on the market with golf clubs having a high performance by combining a single material such as a titanium alloy with the face. Such a single material face not only has the advantages of the material, but also the disadvantages directly affect the performance of the face.
[0003]
Therefore, it is conceivable to make up the face by laminating two or more types of materials with different physical properties to make up for the disadvantages, but the strength between the layers can be obtained even if different materials are simply bonded together. Therefore, even if the thickness is the same as that of a single material, the same strength cannot be obtained, and conversely, only the disadvantages are promoted.
[0004]
For this purpose, a technique using a clad material having a high interlaminar bonding strength has been proposed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-271546 and registered utility model No. 3029832 use a clad material of high carbon steel and low carbon steel mainly for the face to increase the flight distance and to obtain a soft feeling when hitting a ball. A featured golf club head is disclosed. However, such a clad material such as carbon steel has strength, but has a high specific gravity and a large elastic modulus, so that the degree of freedom in designing the head is reduced and the resilience performance is also inferior.
[0005]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-151698 describes that a clad material made of titanium and aluminum is used for a sole plate. This invention was made to increase the production yield of the clad material, and by using an aluminum foil (thin layer) having a thickness of 10 μm, an oxide or a compound is not generated and baking is caused. It is described that it is possible to provide a clad material having a high and stable bonding strength.
[0006]
In this invention, aluminum is used only to achieve the above-mentioned object, and the thickness thereof is as very thin as 10 μm. Therefore, a golf club head that utilizes the characteristics of aluminum other than obtaining bonding strength is manufactured. I could not. Moreover, this cladding material is
It is intended for use in a sole plate of a golf club, and it is described that a head with a low center of gravity can be obtained, and a long flight distance can be obtained even with a shot by a light swing.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention uses a clad material for the face, not the sole plate. That is, it is theoretically known that the flight distance of the ball becomes maximum when the natural frequency of the ball and the natural frequency of the golf club head coincide with each other.
[0008]
The material of the ball is soft and its natural frequency is low, and the material of the golf club head is hard and its natural frequency is high. In addition, since the material of the ball is almost determined and it is impossible to change the natural frequency by changing this, in order to bring the natural frequency between the ball and the golf club head closer, On the other hand, it is necessary to lower the natural frequency.
[0009]
In order to lower the natural frequency of the golf club head, it is effective to use a material having a relatively low elastic modulus among metals such as aluminum, titanium, iron, zinc, magnesium, copper and alloys thereof as the material of the golf club head. Is. However, in some materials such as aluminum and zinc, which have low elastic modulus and low strength, the face surface may be depressed only by hitting several balls. On the other hand, if a material such as stainless steel having a high strength and a high elastic modulus is used, the natural frequency is also increased, so that the natural frequency of the ball and the natural frequency of the golf club head are kept away from each other. .
[0010]
Therefore, it is preferable to use a material having high strength and low elastic modulus, but there is a limit to the realization with a single material. In view of the characteristics of the material, the face material is intended to be a clad material in order to use the appropriate material in the right place. Furthermore, to maintain the strength of the face, to lower the elastic modulus of the entire golf club head to lower the natural frequency, and to achieve the conflicting conditions of increasing the flight distance close to the natural frequency of the ball The idea is to refine the structure of the cladding material. In addition, the combination of the clad materials is intended to contribute to ease of manufacture by reducing mistakes and loss when removing the face from the clad plate.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The invention according to claim 1 is a face made of a clad material plate in which two or more kinds of materials having different physical properties are laminated, and the first material is disposed in the center, and the other materials having the same thickness. and sandwiching the first material, a face for a golf club head having arranged symmetrically with respect to the center of the overall thickness face.
[0012]
A second aspect of the present invention is the golf club head face according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the thickness of each clad material constituting the face is 0.1 mm or more.
[0013]
A third aspect of the present invention is the golf club head according to any one of the first to second aspects, wherein the clad material constituting the face has a thickness of 1.5 to 4.5 mm as a whole. It is a face.
[0014]
The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the face is made of two or more kinds of materials having different strengths so that the lowest strength material does not appear in the outermost layer. A golf club head face.
[0015]
The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the face is made of two or more kinds of materials having different elastic moduli, and the material having the lowest elastic modulus appears in the outermost layer. This is a face for a golf club head that is not provided.
[0016]
A sixth aspect of the invention is the golf club head face according to the fourth aspect of the invention, wherein the lowest strength material is aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and the other different material is titanium or a titanium alloy.
[0017]
A seventh aspect of the invention is the golf club head face according to the fifth aspect of the invention, wherein the lowest elastic modulus material is aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and the other different material is titanium or a titanium alloy.
[0018]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which a clad plate made of three layers of two kinds of materials 11 and 12 having different physical properties is used for the face 1. Then, the face 1 made of the clad material as described above is fitted into the recessed portion 3 of the head body 2. As a fitting method, known means such as fitting by a dovetail structure, press fitting, and adhesion can be used. In FIG. 2, a face 1 made of a clad material is fitted into a head main body 2 made of a recessed portion 3 having a through hole 4.
[0019]
A face 1 made of a clad material plate shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a structure as shown in FIG. 3 and uses a material 12 in the middle and a material 11 of the same thickness at both ends to perform explosive pressure bonding and rolling. The clad material is obtained by known means such as processing. By making the face 1 a clad material instead of a single material, the advantages of each metal material can be drawn and the interlaminar strength is excellent. Furthermore, in the present invention, the materials 11 and 12 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the center of the thickness of the entire face 1 by using the material 11 in the middle and the material 11 having the same thickness at both ends.
[0020]
The material 11 is made of titanium, titanium alloy, magnesium alloy, etc., which is a high strength material and has a low elastic modulus as much as possible. As the material 12, aluminum, aluminum alloy, zinc alloy, tin alloy or the like having a lower strength and lower elastic modulus than the material 11 is used. In any case, in the combination of the clad materials of the face 1, the material 12 having a lower strength than the material 11 is used to prevent the lowest strength material from appearing in the outermost layer. Further, by using the material 12 having a lower elastic modulus than the material 11, the material having the lowest strength is prevented from appearing in the outermost layer.
[0021]
In the present invention, the material 12 having a lower elastic modulus is used in the middle and the material 11 having a higher elastic modulus than the material 12 is used at both ends. Therefore, when the face is bent by a force applied to the face at the moment of impact, the material 12 Since the elastic modulus is low, the degree of obstructing the bending of the material 11 having a high elastic modulus is small, and it is easier to bend than a face made of only the material 11 having a high elastic modulus. The fact that the face is easily bent means that the natural frequency decreases and approaches the natural frequency of the ball, and the flight distance increases. In addition, since the high-strength material 11 is used at both ends, the face surface will not be depressed even if hitting is repeated.
[0022]
The most preferable combination of the material 11 and the material 12 is to use titanium or a titanium alloy as the material 11 and use aluminum or an aluminum alloy as the material 12. Generally, it is known that titanium or a titanium alloy is excellent as a single material of a face of a golf club. However, there is a limit in improving ease of bending with titanium and a titanium alloy alone. Therefore, the ease of bending is improved by using a clad material sandwiching aluminum or an aluminum alloy. This is because aluminum and aluminum alloys are excellent in that they are inexpensive and easy to obtain, and have been established as a clad material.
[0023]
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-151698 in which an aluminum foil (thin layer) having a thickness of 10 μm is used, the above-described effect of facilitating bending cannot be expected. Therefore, the thickness of each clad material constituting the face needs to be at least 0.1 mm or more.
[0024]
Further, the thickness of the clad material constituting the face 1 is 1.5 to 4.5 mm as a whole. If it is thinner than this, even if a material with considerably high strength is used as the material 11, it becomes a limit in strength design, and the face cannot withstand impact shock, and the face is depressed. If it is thicker than this, even if it is a clad material using a material with a light specific gravity, it will have a considerable mass. Even if it is used, the elastic modulus as the face total will increase.
[0025]
FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the face of the clad material of the present invention. In FIG. 3, the intermediate material 12 has substantially the same thickness as the material 11 at both ends, but the intermediate material 12 can be made thinner or thicker than the material 11 at both ends.
[0026]
FIG. 3 shows an example of a clad material composed of three layers, but the face of the clad material according to the present invention is not limited to three layers, and may be an odd-numbered clad material. However, as the total number of layers increases, the number of layers with weak relative strength increases as the number of layers increases, and the number of processes increases and the cost increases. Therefore, considering the performance and cost, three layers are sufficient.
[0027]
In the present invention, the odd-numbered clad material is arranged so as to be symmetric with respect to the thickness center when the face is used. By doing so, there are the following advantages.
[0028]
That is, in a clad material in which a tough metal layer and a soft metal layer are alternately laminated as in utility model registration No. 3029832, for example, as described in “0012” in the same specification, the tough metal layer is applied to the ball striking surface. Suppose you decide to use it. However, it is difficult to determine which surface is a tough metal layer or a soft metal layer only by looking at the actual clad plate. Therefore, if the face is taken wrongly so that the soft metal layer becomes a ball striking face, not only will the face face be completely different in performance, but it will also cause dents due to repeated hitting, and the clad material will It was a waste.
[0029]
As shown in FIG. 4, if the clad material is an odd number layer and the thickness of each layer is symmetrical with respect to the thickness center when the face is used as in the present invention, as shown in FIG. In this case, the face 1 having the same performance can be obtained regardless of whether the face 1 is taken from the front or back. Accordingly, the face 1 can be removed without worrying about the front and back surfaces of the clad material plate 6, so that the working efficiency is improved and the waste of the clad material plate 6 is eliminated.
[0030]
In addition, since internal stress tends to remain due to the manufacturing method of the clad material, as described above, the clad material should be an odd-numbered layer, and the thickness of each layer should be symmetrical with respect to the thickness center when the face is used. In this case, warpage is less likely to occur.
[0031]
Considering the golf club head as a whole, from the viewpoint of increasing the degree of freedom of design such as reducing the natural frequency of the face 1 to increase the repulsion, expanding the sweet area, etc., The recess 3 may have a through hole 4 as shown in FIG. It is desirable that the through hole 4 be made as large as the joint strength of the recess 3 allows.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
In the present invention, the clad material used for the face 1 is composed of two or more kinds of materials having different physical properties, the odd-numbered layers are laminated, and the thickness of each layer is symmetric with respect to the thickness center of the face 1. Arranged. Accordingly, in the clad material 1, if the material 11 having a low elastic modulus is used at the center compared to the elastic modulus of the material at both ends, the face is easily bent, so that the natural frequency decreases and approaches the natural frequency of the ball. The flight distance will be extended. Further, if the material 11 having high strength is used at both ends, the face surface will not be depressed even if hitting is repeated.
[0033]
If the clad material is an odd number layer and the thickness of each layer is symmetrical with respect to the thickness center when the face is used as a face, the front and back sides are taken care of when the face is taken from the clad material plate. No matter which face is taken from, a face plate having exactly the same performance can be obtained, so that work efficiency is improved and the clad plate is not wasted.
[0034]
Although the clad material is likely to retain internal stress due to the manufacturing method, if it is configured as described above, the occurrence of warpage is less likely to occur.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a face of a clad material used in the present invention.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram when removing a face from a clad plate.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Face 11 Material 12 Material 2 Head main body 3 Recessed part 4 Through-hole 5 Notch part 6 Clad material board

Claims (7)

A face made of a clad plate in which odd-numbered layers of two or more materials having different physical properties are laminated, the first material is arranged in the center, and the other materials having the same thickness are sandwiched by the first material. And a golf club head face arranged so as to be symmetrical with respect to the center of the thickness of the entire face.   The golf club head face according to claim 1, wherein each clad member constituting the face has a thickness of 0.1 mm or more.   3. The golf club head face according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of a clad material constituting the face is 1.5 to 4.5 mm as a whole. 4.   4. The golf club head face according to claim 1, wherein the face is made of two or more kinds of materials having different strengths so that the lowest strength material does not appear in the outermost layer. 5.   4. The golf club head face according to claim 1, wherein the face is made of two or more kinds of materials having different elastic moduli, and the material having the lowest elastic modulus is prevented from appearing in the outermost layer. 5. The lowest strength material is aluminum or aluminum alloy,
5. The golf club head face according to claim 4, wherein the other different material is titanium or a titanium alloy.   6. The golf club head face according to claim 5, wherein the lowest elastic modulus material is aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and the other different material is titanium or a titanium alloy.

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