CN100497694C - Low density alloy for golf club head - Google Patents

Abstract

A low-density alloy for a golf club head, comprising 84% to 94% titanium, 6.5% to 9.5% aluminum (or 5.5% to 8.5%) and less than 1.5% vanadium (or less than 3.0%) by weight. The low-density alloy is mainly composed of titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy, and trace elements such as molybdenum, chromium, iron, silicon and/or boron can be optionally added to form a titanium alloy with a density of less than 4.40g/ ^cm3 , thereby forming a titanium alloy with lower density and higher elongation.

Description

Low Density Alloys for Golf Club Heads

technical field

The present invention relates to a low-density alloy (Low-Density Alloy for Making a Golf Club Head), in particular to controlling the mixing ratio of titanium, aluminum and vanadium, and selectively adding molybdenum, chromium, iron, silicon and/or Boron and other trace elements are used to adjust the position of the center of gravity and improve the low-density alloy of the golf club head with elastic deformation ability.

Background technique

Traditional golf club heads are mostly made of stainless steel, such as SUS630 or SUS431 (American Iron and Steel Institute AISI standard 630 and 431), and are made by precision casting (waxing method), but this material has a high density and strong strength. Therefore, the wall thickness of the club head made of the above materials must reach a certain thickness in order to meet the strength requirements of the club head; however, in actual use, due to the requirement that the club head weight should not be too heavy The main point is that the volume of the club head made of the above materials cannot be increased, so the range of the best hitting point on the ball hitting surface of the club head will be greatly reduced, resulting in a great increase in the probability of hitting the ball.

In order to solve the above problems, the industry has developed club heads made of titanium alloys, such as U.S. Patent No. 5,505,795 "Method of manufacturing golf clubs" and No. 5,643,108 "Golf club head structure and its manufacturing method". (Structure for golf club head and the method of its manufacture)", No. 6,832,961 "Wood-type golf club head", No. 6,880,222 "Method of manufacturing a golf club head" " and No. 6,905,061 "Method of making golf club head (Method of makinga golf club head)" and so on use Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy (that is, 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium by weight, and the rest is titanium metal) to make a Golf club head, because the density of titanium alloy is relatively lower than that of stainless steel, its strength is equivalent to that of stainless steel, and it can exhibit relatively high elastic deformation capacity, so it can increase the size of the golf ball without increasing the weight of the club head. The volume of the club head increases the sweet spot area of the golf club head to improve the success rate of hitting the ball.

On the other hand, because the density of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy is relatively lower than that of stainless steel, it can be used to manufacture some components of the golf club head, thereby achieving the adjustment of the center of gravity of the golf club head, such as the club head body, impact Panels, cover plates or counterweights, etc., and because its elastic deformation capacity (elongation) is relatively higher than that of stainless steel, it can usually use its better elastic deformation capacity to produce a greater degree of elastic deformation when hitting the ball, and It can be used to relatively reduce the compression deformation of the ball caused by the impact of the golf ball on the hitting panel, and relatively reduce the degree to which the hitting stress is absorbed by damping, so as to avoid the energy loss of the hitting stress and increase the hitting distance.

However, in consideration of increasing the size of the club head and adjusting the margin of the center of gravity, it is necessary to further improve the above-mentioned titanium alloy to reduce the density and add other elements, but still retain the original mechanical strength to increase the application margin of the titanium alloy. Spend.

Other related titanium alloys are listed in Table 1 below, which are listed here for reference.

Table 1. Composition and mechanical strength of traditional titanium alloys with various components

Patent No. Ti al Cr mn V W Ta B Si Nb C Ga FS(ksi) YS(ksi) E% US5492574 45-46 50-51 4 US5324367 46 50 2 2～4 0.05～0.2 85～97 62～73 2.6～3.4 EP0549181 46 48 1～3 6～14 72～88 48～74 2.1～1.5 EP0545614 42 46 1～3 1～4 2～6 70～105 55～85 1.6～2 US5264054 0.5～2 88～96 73～80 1.3～2.1 DE4140707 0.5～2 87～95 69～76 1.2～1.7 DE4140579 0.5～2 88～98 73～83 DE4022403 51-43 46-50 2 1～5 0.1 54～70 2.3～2.6 GB2266315 52～44 46～50 1～3 1～3 FR2695652 48 48 2 2 50～80 EP0405134 48 48 2 2 68～100 50～75 2.2～2.4 GB2266096 48 46 2 2 EP0362470 52～42 46～50 1～3 1～5 US4902474 52～47 42～46 3～7 120～125 95～100 0.8 US4923534 50～48 48 2～4 125～150 100～110 0.9 US4842820 2～4 US4842817 48 48 4 US4842819 52～50 46～48 2 US4857268 49 48 3

In view of this, the present invention improves above-mentioned shortcoming, and it utilizes low-density titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy to manufacture a golf club head, and titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy comprises titanium 84% to 94% by weight percentage, aluminum 6.5% to 9.5% (or 5.5% to 8.5%) and less than 1.5% vanadium (or less than 3.0%), or choose to add trace elements such as molybdenum, chromium, iron, silicon and/or boron to form a titanium alloy with a density of less than 4.40g/cm ³ for adjustment The overall center of gravity of the golf club head and the improved elastic deformation capability are conducive to the enlargement of the club head and further increase the design margin of the club head.

Contents of the invention

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a low-density alloy for the golf club head, which adjusts the ratio of aluminum and vanadium in the titanium alloy to reduce the density and maintain the original mechanical strength, so as to adjust the overall center of gravity of the golf club head and improve the elastic deformation capacity the goal of.

The secondary purpose of the present invention is to provide a low-density alloy for a golf club head, which adjusts the ratio of aluminum and vanadium in the titanium alloy, and selectively adds trace elements such as molybdenum, chromium, iron, silicon and/or boron to reduce the density And maintain the original mechanical strength, to achieve the purpose of adjusting the overall center of gravity of the golf club head and improving the elastic deformation ability.

The object of the present invention is achieved like this: a low-density alloy of a golf club head, which comprises 84% to 94% of titanium, 5.5% to 9.5% of aluminum and less than 3.0% of vanadium, less than 0.6% of iron and less than 0.6% of silicon by weight. % or less, molybdenum 1.2% or less and chromium 1.2% or less. The low-density alloy uses titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy as the main alloy component, and can optionally add trace elements such as boron to form a titanium alloy with a density below 4.40g/cm ³ , thus forming a titanium alloy with a lower density and higher elongation. .

In the low-density alloy of the present invention, the percentage by weight of aluminum is adjusted to be between 6.5% and 9.5%.

In the low-density alloy of the present invention, the percentage by weight of aluminum is adjusted to be between 5.5% and 8.5%.

In the low-density alloy of the present invention, the weight percentage of vanadium is selected to be adjusted to be below 1.5%.

The main advantages of the present invention are:

It utilizes a low-density titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy to manufacture a golf club head. The titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy contains 84% to 94% by weight of titanium, 6.5% to 9.5% (or 5.5% to 8.5%) of aluminum and less than 1.5% of vanadium ( or less than 3.0%), or choose to add trace elements such as molybdenum, chromium, iron, silicon and/or boron to form a titanium alloy with a density below 4.40g/cm3 for adjusting the overall center of gravity of the golf club head and improving elastic deformation capacity , which is conducive to the enlargement of the club head, and further improves the design margin of the club head.

Description of drawings

Figure 1: Electron micrograph of the low density alloy of the golf club head of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to make the above-mentioned purpose, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and understandable, the preferred embodiments of the present invention are specifically cited below, together with the accompanying drawings, and are described in detail as follows:

The low-density alloy of the golf club head in the preferred embodiment of the present invention is mainly composed of titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy, which contains 84% to 94% of titanium, 5.5% to 9.5% of aluminum and less than 3.0% of vanadium.

Example 1

As shown in Table 2 and accompanying drawing 1, the low-density alloy of the golf club head of the first embodiment of the present invention is made of titanium metal (density 4.51g/cm ³ ), aluminum metal (density 2.70g/cm ³ ) and vanadium Metal (density 5.79g/cm ³ ) is the main alloy component. Titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy contains 84% to 94% by weight of titanium, 6.5% to 9.5% of aluminum and less than 1.5% of vanadium, with a composition density of 4.40g/cm ³ The following titanium alloys are preferably titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloys with 91% titanium, 8% aluminum and 1% vanadium (such as Ti-8Al-1V alloy or Ti-7.5Al-0.05V alloy shown in Table 2).

Example 2

In the low-density alloy of another embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable to adjust the weight percentage of aluminum to between 5.5% and 8.5% without changing the original titanium weight percentage of 84% to 94%; in addition, the vanadium The weight percentage is adjusted below 3.0% at the same time. At this time, the low-density alloy still maintains the original mechanical strength of the first embodiment of the present invention.

Example 3

Compared with the Ti-8Al-1V alloy of the first embodiment of the present invention, the low-density alloy of embodiment 3 slightly reduces the content of aluminum elements, but does not affect the elongation properties of the low-density alloy; at the same time, the low-density alloy slightly Increase the content of vanadium. Compared with the Ti-8Al-1V alloy of the first embodiment of the present invention, the proportion of aluminum and vanadium elements in this low-density alloy is slightly changed. Although the proportion of aluminum and vanadium elements in the low-density alloy is different from that of the Ti-8Al-1V alloy of the present invention, it does not deviate from the technical scope of the low-density alloy of the present invention.

The following comparative characteristics of the low-density alloy of the present invention and the traditional titanium alloy mainly exemplify the comparison of the Ti-8Al-1V alloy (or Ti-7.5Al-0.05V alloy) and the traditional Ti-6Al-4V alloy for illustration.

Compared with the traditional Ti-6Al-4V alloy, the present invention can reduce the alloy density and improve the toughness by relatively increasing the amount of aluminum added, so as to obtain the required low-density properties; by relatively reducing the amount of vanadium added, it can effectively improve the casting Fluidity and auxiliary degassing effect, but will not affect the mechanical properties of the alloy; titanium aluminum vanadium alloy is an optional component used in the manufacture of a golf club head, such as the club head body, striking panel, cover plate and/or counterweight, etc. , which is preferably selected from a striking panel.

On the other hand, since the density (4.40 to 4.34g/cm ³ ) of the Ti-8Al-1V alloy is relatively lower than that of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy (4.42g/cm ³ ), it can be used for parts of golf club heads components to reduce its weight without significantly affecting its mechanical properties, so that the center of gravity of the golf club head can be adjusted, such as the club head body, striking panel, cover or counterweight.

Please refer to Table 2, which reveals the low-density alloys of the golf club heads of the second to fifth embodiments of the present invention. Compared with the first embodiment, the second to fifth embodiments further selectively add trace elements to the Ti-8Al-1V alloy, such as molybdenum 1.2% or less, chromium 1.2% or less, iron 0.6% or less, silicon 0.6% by weight. % or less and boron 1.0% or less. By adding an appropriate amount of molybdenum, the alloy can precipitate uniformly distributed carbides and improve heat resistance, so as to reduce the welding hot crack of the alloy, and also increase its hardening ability and high temperature strength; by adding an appropriate amount of chromium to improve the rust resistance of the alloy Corrosion resistance, increase the service life of the golf club head; by adding an appropriate amount of iron to have good plasticity, which is convenient for processing; by adding an appropriate amount of silicon to improve the fluidity of molten metal; by adding an appropriate amount of boron, because it is in The structure is stable at high temperature, and has better oxidation resistance, toughness and plasticity, which can improve the mechanical properties of the alloy.

The second embodiment of the present invention is to add 0.25% to 0.5% of molybdenum in weight percentage;

The third embodiment of the present invention is to add 0.4% to 0.6% of chromium in weight percentage;

The fourth embodiment of the present invention is to add 0.2% to 0.4% of iron in weight percentage;

The fifth embodiment of the present invention is to add 0.25% to 0.35% silicon by weight.

In addition to the above-mentioned embodiments, the present invention can also choose to add less than 1.0% boron by weight to make a golf club head. The titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloys of the second to fifth embodiments of the present invention can also be optionally used in some components of the golf club head, such as the club head body, the striking panel, the cover plate and/or the counterweight, etc., preferably one Hit the panel.

In this way, the above-mentioned first to fifth embodiments use titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy as the main alloy component, and add trace elements such as molybdenum, chromium, iron, silicon and/or boron to form a titanium alloy with a lower density than Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy. , and the elongation rate is higher than the golf club head of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy, and under the premise of not exceeding the elastic limit (elastic limit) of the material itself, the elongation rate E% (elastic deformation capacity) of the low-density titanium aluminum vanadium alloy ) gets boosted. Therefore, using its better elastic deformation ability can form a greater degree of elastic deformation when hitting the ball, thereby increasing the hitting distance. At the same time, the use of the low-density Ti-8Al-1V alloy (or Ti-7.5Al-0.05V alloy) can reduce the overall weight of the golf club head, and can be used for some components of the golf club head to adjust the center of gravity of the golf club head location, such as the clubhead body, cover, strike plate, or weights. Therefore, the present invention can enlarge the volume of the golf club head without increasing the weight of the golf club head, increase the area of the optimal hitting point of the golf club head, and improve the hitting success rate.

Table 2. Comparison of titanium aluminum vanadium alloys with different weight percentages and their mechanical properties

material Tensile strength (ksi) 0.2% yield strength (ksi) Elongation(%) Hardness (HRC) Density (g/cm³) Traditional Ti6Al-4V 120～140 110～130 3～5 32～35 4.42 The first embodiment of the present invention Ti8Al-1V 110～118 99～100 8～9 28～31 4.34～4.40 The second embodiment of the present invention Ti8Al-1V-0.25～0.50Mo 122～127 111～112 7 34～35 4.34～4.35 The third embodiment of the present invention Ti8Al-1V-0.4～0.60Cr 128～129 109～114 6～7 33～34 4.34～4.35 The fourth embodiment of the present invention Ti8Al-1V-0.20～0.40Fe 120～123 104～115 7～8 33～34 4.37 The fifth embodiment of the present invention Ti8Al-1V-0.25～0.35Si 122～135 114～129 6～8 31～33 4.32 The sixth embodiment of the present invention Ti-7.5Al-0.05V-0.2Si-0.06B4C 130.89 119.61 4.07 31.2 4.32

Please refer to Tables 2, 3 and 4 and accompanying drawing 1, which disclose the low-density alloy of the golf club head according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention. Compared with the first to fifth embodiments, the sixth embodiment is a low-density alloy of Ti-7.5Al-0.05V-0.2Si-0.06B ₄ C, which contains 7.2% to 7.8% by weight of aluminum and 0.02% of vanadium To 0.06%, silicon 0.22%, boron carbide 0.06%, iron 0.06%, carbon 0.04%, nitrogen 0.01% and oxygen 0.21%, the remaining proportion is titanium. In particular, the Ti-7.5Al-0.05V-0.2Si-0.06B ₄ C low-density alloy of the sixth embodiment of the present invention has mechanical properties similar to the traditional Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy, but its density is 4.32 grams/cubic Centimeter is lower than the density of traditional Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy (4.42 g/cm3). Under the bombardment test (55 meters/second of bombardment velocity, #2 bombardment machine), the low-density alloy of Ti-7.5Al-0.05V-0.2Si-0.06B ₄ C of the present invention is applied to casting and making striking panels, striking The panels are all able to pass the shell test standard. Therefore, the low-density alloy of Ti-7.5Al-0.05V-0.2Si-0.06B ₄ C can also reduce the overall weight of the golf club head, and can be used in some components of the golf club head to adjust the center of gravity of the golf club head , such as the club head body, cover plate, striking panel or counterweight, etc. Therefore, the present invention can enlarge the volume of the golf club head without increasing the weight of the golf club head, increase the area of the optimal hitting point of the golf club head, and improve the hitting success rate.

Table three, the sixth embodiment of the present invention and the composition comparison of traditional alloy

Composition (wt%) al V Si B₄C Fe C N o Traditional Ti-6Al-4V 5.5-6.75 3.5-4.5 0.1↓ — 0.3↓ 0.1↓ 0.05↓ 0.2↓ Ti-7.5Al-0.05V-0.02Si-0.06B₄C of the present invention 7.2-7.80 0.02-0.06 0.22 0.06 0.06 0.04 0.01 0.21

Table 4. Comparison of the shelling test of the strike panel made by the sixth embodiment of the present invention and the traditional alloy casting (the shelling speed is 55 m/s, #2 shelling machine)

As mentioned above, compared with the traditional golf club head with high density and low strength, and the volume of the club head cannot be increased, resulting in a significant reduction in the range of the best hitting point, the present invention can indeed use low-density Ti-8Al Alloys such as -1V, or by adding trace elements such as molybdenum, chromium, iron, silicon and/or boron to form a titanium-aluminum-vanadium alloy with a density below 4.40g/ ^cm3 , to adjust the overall center of gravity of the golf club head and improve the elastic deformation capacity , which is conducive to the enlargement of the club head, and further improves the design margin of the club head.

Claims (8)

1, a kind of low-density alloy of golf driver head, it is characterized in that: the titanium 84% to 94%, aluminium 5.5% to 9.5%, vanadium that it comprises weight percent below 3.0%, iron below 0.6%, silicon below 0.6%, molybdenum are below 1.2% and chromium below 1.2%, with the titanium aluminum vanadium alloy of composition density below 4.40g/cm3.

2, the low-density alloy of golf driver head according to claim 1 is characterized in that: this titanium aluminum vanadium alloy selects the weight percent of aluminium to be adjusted between 6.5% to 9.5%.

3, the low-density alloy of golf driver head according to claim 1 is characterized in that: this titanium aluminum vanadium alloy selects the weight percent of aluminium to be adjusted between 5.5% to 8.5%.

4, the low-density alloy of golf driver head according to claim 1 is characterized in that: this titanium aluminum vanadium alloy selects the weight percent of vanadium to be adjusted to below 1.5%.

5, the low-density alloy of golf driver head according to claim 1 is characterized in that: this titanium aluminum vanadium alloy comprises the aluminium 8% and the vanadium 1% of weight percent.

6, the low-density alloy of golf driver head according to claim 1 is characterized in that: this titanium aluminum vanadium alloy comprises the boron of weight percent below 1.0% in addition.

7, the low-density alloy of golf driver head according to claim 1 is characterized in that: this titanium aluminum vanadium alloy is aluminium 7.2% to 7.8% and the vanadium 0.02% to 0.06% that comprises weight percent.

8, the low-density alloy of golf driver head according to claim 7 is characterized in that: this titanium aluminum vanadium alloy comprises the norbide 0.06% of weight percent in addition.

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