JP2002065913A - Golf club head and production method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce production costs. SOLUTION: The golf club head comprises a head body 2 comprising a metal material and a weight member 3 comprising a metal material with the specific gravity thereof larger than that of the metal material of the head body 2. The weight member 3 is fastened to the head body 2 in a forging process.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a golf club head and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years,
In a golf club head, a weight member having a higher specific gravity than the head body is fixed to a head body occupying a main part of the head to a back portion (back face portion) or a bottom portion (sole portion) of the head body. That is being done.
Such a head can lower the center of gravity of the head and deepen the depth of the center of gravity, making it easier to raise the ball and stabilizing the direction of the ball at the time of a missed shot. Can be improved.

[0003] For example, iron type golf club heads can be classified into forged heads formed by forging and cast heads formed by casting. When the weight member as described above is fixed to the casting head, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, a so-called reverse tapered recess c that becomes wider as the depth increases is formed in the head body b by casting. Pressing the weight member d into the recess c is considered.

On the other hand, in the case of a forged head, it is difficult to form the above-described concave portion having an inversely tapered shape by forging. Therefore, as shown in FIG. After forging, c
1 is cut into an inverted tapered recess c2.
A method of press-fitting the weight member d is considered. Therefore, in the case of a forging head to which the weight member d is fixed, there is a problem that the manufacturing process is complicated, the manufacturing cost is increased, and the manufacturing time is long.

The present invention has been devised in view of the above problems, and is based on fixing the head body and the weight member in a forging process without complicating the manufacturing process. It is another object of the present invention to provide a golf club head which can be manufactured in a short period of time and a manufacturing method thereof.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a head body made of a metal material and a weight member made of a metal material having a specific gravity greater than that of the metal material of the head body are provided. A golf club head, wherein the head body and the weight member are fixed in a forging process.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a golf club head for manufacturing a golf club head comprising a head body made of a metal material and a weight member made of a metal material having a specific gravity greater than that of the metal material of the head body. The manufacturing method of a golf club head, wherein the head body and the weight member are fixed in a forging process.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the head body is formed by forming a head blank having a mounting recess by a primary forging step and performing a secondary forging step. The head assembly in which the weight member is disposed in the mounting concave portion is subjected to the secondary forging process, whereby the inner surface of the mounting concave portion and the weight member are engaged with each other by plastic deformation of the head combined body. 3. The method of manufacturing a golf club head according to claim 2, wherein the head is fixed to the head body.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the golf club head according to the third aspect, the secondary forging step includes a finish forging step of finishing the head assembly into a final forged shape. It is a manufacturing method.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, at least one of the weight member and the inner surface of the mounting recess is filled with the metal material of the weight member or the inner surface of the recess by plastically deforming the other. The method of manufacturing a golf club head according to any one of claims 2 to 4, further comprising a groove-shaped portion that is fixed and prevented from coming off.

The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the groove-shaped portion is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the weight member facing the inner surface of the mounting concave portion, or around the inner surface of the concave portion. It is a manufacturing method of the golf club head described.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the groove-shaped portion is a soak formed on the outer peripheral edge of the weight member, and the metal material on the inner surface of the mounting recess of the head body is deformed by a secondary forging process. The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the weight member is prevented from falling out by protruding into the groove-shaped portion.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an iron-type golf club head (hereinafter, may be simply referred to as a “head”) 1 as viewed from a back face B side according to the embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a rear view, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged end view taken along line AA of FIG. In the figure, an iron type head 1 is shown.
Is composed of a head body 2 made of a metal material and forming a main part of the head 1, and a weight member 3 made of a metal material having a specific gravity greater than that of the metal material of the head body 2.

In the present embodiment, the head body 2 includes a top portion 2a forming an upper portion of the head and a sole portion 2b forming a bottom portion of the head.
And a toe portion 2c connecting between them at the head end side, a heel side neck portion 2d, and a shaft mounting portion 2e. The head main body 2 has a front face F for hitting a ball on the front surface thereof, and a back face portion B having a concave portion C called a cavity on the back surface of the face surface F. FIG.

The head main body 2 can be made of various materials as long as it is a metal material that can be forged. For example, metal materials such as carbon steel, pure Ti, Ti alloy, aluminum alloy, and amorphous alloy can be used. .

Further, the head 1 in this embodiment has a raised portion 4 on the back face portion B, the raised portion 4 extending from the sole portion 2b toward the top portion 2a. And the thing which fixed the said weight member 3 to this raised part 4 is illustrated. That is, in this example, the weight member 3 is fixed to the back face portion B.

The weight member 3 is preferably made of a metal material which is easily plastically deformed and has a large specific gravity. For example, W, Cu, Pb, W-Cu alloy, Cu, Ni-Cu, W-Ni, etc.
A metal material containing at least one of these is preferable. Particularly preferably, the weight member 3 has a specific gravity of 10 to 22, more preferably 1 to 22.
Two to fifteen metal materials are desirable. If the specific gravity is less than 10, it is difficult to reduce the center of gravity of the head and increase the depth of the center of gravity, and the significance of fixing the weight member 3 is lost. In addition, a metal material having a specific gravity of more than 22 is generally not preferable in terms of plastic deformation and high cost. In the present embodiment, a sintered body of a W—Cu alloy having a specific gravity of 14 which is easily deformed plastically is exemplified.

The head 1 of the present embodiment has a head body 2 and a weight member 3 fixed by forging. In the “forging” used in this specification, for example, a lump-shaped metal material such as a round bar is hit under a predetermined temperature condition to obtain a desired shape. The temperature of the material during processing is not particularly limited because it can be variously adjusted depending on the material or forging ratio, and so-called hot forging,
Either warm forging or cold forging may be used. “Forging” is a concept including so-called forging. The metal material processed by forging is preferable in that a dense crystal structure is obtained and the strength of the material can be improved, and the metal material can be accompanied by a large plastic deformation. Thus, the head body and the weight member can be firmly fixed. In particular, in the case of hot or warm forging, in which a metal material is heated to a predetermined temperature in advance and hit, the workability is further improved because the ductility of the material is further improved, and the head body 2 and the weight member 3 are firmly connected. Can be fixed to Hereinafter, a method for manufacturing such a head 1 will be described in detail.

The head body 1 is, as shown in FIG.
First, a head blank 6 having a mounting recess 5 is formed by a primary forging process. The primary forging step exemplifies a mold forging using a lower mold D and an upper mold P, for example.
Forming surfaces Pa and Da necessary for forming the head blank 6 are respectively formed on the facing surfaces of the upper mold P and the lower mold D.
Are recessed by, for example, electric discharge machining. For example, a material to be processed is placed on the lower die D, and the upper die P is placed thereon.
By pressing, the material to be processed is plastically deformed into the shape of the head blank 6.

In the first forging step, the number of times of forging for forming the head blank 6 is not particularly limited. That is, the head blank 6 may be formed by performing the primary forging process in several steps such as rough forging and rough forging, or the head blank 6 may be formed by one shot if possible. Is also good. Preferably, the head blank 6 is formed by two or more shots in order to reduce the residual distortion of the material and improve the molding accuracy. In this case, the molding surface P of the upper mold P and / or the lower mold D
For a and Da, a plurality of types having different shapes are used. In the primary forging process, the material to be processed is
Forging is performed by heating to 000 to 1400 ° C. (Hot forging) In this way, by heating the forging material,
In addition to reducing the deformation resistance of the material and reducing the processing force, the processing accuracy can be improved.

FIG. 4 exemplifies a position corresponding to the AA cross section in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, the head blank 6 is formed in a shape substantially similar to the final forged shape of the head main body 2. Show. The mounting recess 5 is formed in the head blank 6 by a protrusion 9 protruding from the upper die P.

In the present embodiment, the mounting recess 5 is provided with the raised portion 4.
And is formed in a tapered shape whose width is gradually reduced toward the inside of the head blank 6. In the mounting recess 5 of this example, the angle θ between the wall surface 5a and the perpendicular to the face surface F in the cross section is, for example, 2 to 6.
゜, more preferably, 3-5 °. When the angle θ is less than 2 °, the detachability of the convex portion 9 when forming the mounting concave portion 5 by the convex portion 9 is deteriorated, and the productivity is easily reduced. Conversely, if it exceeds 6 °, the protrusion 9
Can be improved, but the weight member 12 is also not easy to be removed. In the present example, the mounting recess 5 forms a rectangular recess in which four wall surfaces 5a are substantially arranged in a substantially rectangular shape. It is sufficient that the surface is formed in such a tapered shape.

In this embodiment, the head blank 6 is provided with a squeezing projection 7 projecting outward from the final forged shape S. The projecting portion 7 is formed in an annular shape around the mounting recess 5 in this example. The protruding portion 7 is crushed by the upper die P in a secondary forging process described later, and causes particularly large plastic deformation around the mounting recess 5 of the head blank 6 to obtain a strong connection with the weight member 3. Help.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the weight member 3 is disposed in the mounting recess 5 of the head blank 6, and a head assembly 10 is prepared.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the weight member 3 of the present embodiment has a tapered shape tapering toward the inside of the head in accordance with the mounting recess 5. In addition, the weight member 3 exemplifies a member having a first groove-shaped portion 3a and a second groove-shaped portion 3b.

The first groove portion 3a is formed on the outer peripheral surface 14 of the weight member 3 facing the periphery of the inner surface 5a of the mounting recess 5.
Is formed as an example. The first groove-shaped portion 3a of the present embodiment is formed of an annular groove 11 extending annularly on the outer peripheral surface 14 at a substantially middle position along the length of the weight member 3 according to the method of inserting the weight member 3 into the head body 3. The annular groove 11 has a substantially wedge-shaped cross section that becomes sharper toward the center of the weight member 3, but is not particularly limited to this shape. Further, in this example, the first groove portion 3a shows a continuous annular groove 11, but may be a partially interrupted groove, or may be two or more.

In the present embodiment, the second groove-shaped portion 3b is formed as a slack 12 formed on the outer periphery of the outer surface 13 of the weight member 3. That is, the outer surface 13 is formed by hollowing the peripheral edge in an annular shape along the peripheral edge. As described above, in this example, the weight member 3 is formed with the two groove portions 3a and 3b, but only one of the groove portions may be provided.

Further, the head combination 10 is formed by engaging the inner surface 5a of the mounting recess 5 with the weight member 3 by plastic deformation of the head combination 10 by performing a secondary forging process. The member 3 is fixed to the head main body 2. In this example, in the secondary forging process, first, the head combination body 10 is heated to 400 to 800 ° C. in a furnace,
Used for die forging. The upper die P used in the secondary forging step is formed so as to include a molding surface Pb for crushing the projecting portion 7 for crushing to finish the final forged shape. When the upper die P is pushed down to the head combination 10, the protruding portions 7 are crushed, and particularly, the periphery of the mounting recess 5 of the head blank 6 is largely plastically deformed toward the weight member 3.

By utilizing such plastic deformation, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the first groove-like portion 3a of the weight member 3 is provided with an inner surface 5a of the mounting recess of the plastically deformed head blank 6. And the weight member 3 is fixedly fixed to prevent the falling off. The metal material on the inner surface 5a of the mounting recess 5 is deformed into the second groove 3b and protrudes into the second groove 3b so as to cover the peripheral edge of the weight member 3 and prevent the weight member 3 from falling off. . If the depth Ga or Gb of each of the first groove portion 3a and the second groove portion 3b is too small, the retaining effect of the weight member 3 is reduced. It tends to be difficult to fully fill the material. From this viewpoint, although not particularly limited, the depth Da or Db of each groove portion is preferably, for example, 0.5 to 4.0 mm, and more preferably 1.0 to 2.0 mm.

In this embodiment, the grooves 3a, 3b are provided on the weight member 3, but they may be provided on the inner surface 5a of the mounting recess 5. In this case, although not shown, the weight member 3 is largely plastically deformed by providing, for example, a projecting portion for crushing in the weight member 3, and the weight member is provided in the groove-shaped portion provided on the inner surface of the mounting recess 5. It is preferable to satisfy the plastically deformed metal material of No. 3.

In the present embodiment, such a secondary forging step includes a finish forging step for finishing the head assembly 10 into a final forged shape. That is, it is possible to fix the head blank 6 and the weight member 3 by plastically deforming the head combination 10 and at the same time, finish the head combination 10 to the final forged shape. Thus, the head 1 to which the weight member 3 is fixed can be obtained while significantly reducing the number of manufacturing steps as compared with the related art. In this example, the finish forging step is set so that a pressing force acts on the entire head assembly 10 in order to adjust the shape of the entire head. With such a pressing force, the metal material of the head blank 6 can be more reliably filled in the respective groove portions 3a and 3b of the weight member 3, and can be securely fixed. Then, the head combination 10 finished to the final forged shape can be manufactured as the head 1 by performing a final finishing process such as deburring, polishing, and plating according to a customary manner. Further, in the present example, the first and second groove-shaped portions 3a and 3b are provided on the weight member, so that the weight member can be more reliably prevented from coming off and a strong fixed state can be maintained for a long period of time.

As shown in FIG. 3, the weight member 3 is tapered as described above, so that its width can be increased toward the rear of the head. Therefore, since the center of gravity of the weight member 3 itself can be moved toward the head rear side, the depth of the center of gravity of the head can be designed deeper even with a relatively small weight member 3. This makes it possible to design the depth of the center of gravity deeper while minimizing the increase in the weight of the entire head, and it is also possible to efficiently design the center of gravity and to increase the degree of freedom.

In the above embodiment, the weight member is fixed to the back face portion. However, for example, FIG.
As shown in the figure, the one fixed to the sole portion 2b may be used.
The number of weight members can be determined arbitrarily. Also,
In the above embodiment, an iron type golf club head has been described as an example. However, for example, a so-called utility type head having an intermediate shape between a wood type and an iron type and a wood type as shown in FIG. Further, the present invention can be suitably applied to a putter type golf club head and the like.

[0034]

EXAMPLE A forged bar made of S25C is cut into a predetermined length and heated to about 1200 ° C. Then, a head blank shown in FIG. 4 is formed from the heated forged bar by a primary forging process. In the primary forging step, a head blank was formed by performing two taps of rough forging and rough forging. The tapered angle θ of the inner surface of the mounting recess was set to 4 ° on each surface. After the rough forging, the head blank was deburred. Next, a weight member made of a W-Cu alloy shown in FIG. 6 was inserted into the mounting recess to form a head assembly, heated to about 600 °, and then subjected to a final forging in a secondary forging step. By the final forging, the head blank and the weight member were fixed, and a final forged shape was obtained. After finish forging, deburring, polishing and plating were performed to produce a head. Then, such a head was mounted on a shaft to produce a prototype of an iron type golf club head, and attached to a swing robot, and a 5000 ball test hit was performed at a head speed of 45 m / s.
The weight member did not come off.

[0035]

As described above, according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the head body made of a metal material and the weight member made of a metal material having a specific gravity greater than that of the metal material of the head body are forged. It is stuck in. Therefore, a strong connection between the weight member and the head body can be easily obtained. Further, in the case of a forged head, since a separate cutting process for forming a concave portion is not necessary, the manufacturing process can be simplified, the manufacturing cost can be reduced, and the period required for the manufacturing can be shortened.

In the invention according to claim 3, the head body is formed by forming a head blank having a mounting recess by a primary forging step and performing a secondary forging step. The head assembly in which the weight member is disposed in the mounting concave portion is subjected to the secondary forging process, whereby the inner surface of the mounting concave portion and the weight member are engaged with each other by plastic deformation of the head combined body. Is fixed to the head body. In other words, by separately performing the forging process of forming the mounting recess and the forging process of fixing the weight member to the mounting recess, each forging can be performed reliably, and the head body and the weight member are more securely bonded. Can.

Further, in the invention according to claim 4, the secondary forging step includes a finish forging step of finishing the head combination into a final forged shape, so that the head combination is plastically deformed and the head blank is formed. At the same time as fixing the weight member, the head assembly can be finished to a final forged shape. As a result, it is possible to obtain a forged type head to which the weight member is fixed while significantly reducing the number of manufacturing steps as compared with the related art.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, at least one of the weight member or the inner surface of the mounting recess is filled with the metal material of the weight member or the inner surface of the recess plastically deformed and filled into the other. By providing the groove-shaped portion for fixing and preventing the member from coming off, the engaging force between the head main body and the weight member can be increased, and the head can be more securely fixed and the durability can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an iron-type golf club head according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a rear view thereof.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged end view taken along the line AA.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a head blank.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a head assembly.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a weight member.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are cross-sectional views of a head showing another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a conventional casting head.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are cross-sectional views illustrating a conventional forging head.

[Description of Signs] 2 Head body 3 Weight member 4 Raised portion 5 Mounting concave portion 6 Head blank 10 Head combination

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A golf club head comprising: a head body made of a metal material; and a weight member made of a metal material having a specific gravity greater than that of the metal material of the head body, wherein the head body, the weight member, Is a golf club head fixed in a forging process. 2. A golf club head manufacturing method for manufacturing a golf club head comprising a head body made of a metal material and a weight member made of a metal material having a specific gravity greater than that of the metal material of the head body. A method of manufacturing a golf club head, comprising: fixing the head body and the weight member in a forging process. 3. The head body is formed by forming a head blank having a mounting recess by a primary forging process and performing a secondary forging process, and the weight member is provided in a mounting recess of the head blank. By subjecting the head assembly provided with the above to the secondary forging process, plastic deformation of the head assembly causes the inner surface of the mounting recess to engage with the weight member, thereby fixing the weight member to the head body. 3. The method of manufacturing a golf club head according to claim 2, wherein 4. The method of manufacturing a golf club head according to claim 3, wherein said secondary forging step includes a finish forging step of finishing said head combination into a final forged shape. 5. A groove shape for fixing and stopping the weight member by filling at least one of the inner surface of the weight member or the mounting recess with the metal material of the weight member or the inner surface of the recess by plastically deforming the other. The method for manufacturing a golf club head according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein a portion is provided. 6. The golf club head according to claim 5, wherein the groove-shaped portion is formed on an outer peripheral surface of a weight member facing an inner peripheral surface of the mounting concave portion, or on an inner peripheral surface of the concave portion. Method. 7. The groove-shaped portion is a slush formed on the outer peripheral edge of the weight member, and the metal material on the inner surface of the mounting concave portion of the head body is deformed by a secondary forging step to form the groove-shaped portion. The method for manufacturing a golf club head according to claim 5, wherein the weight member is prevented from falling out by protruding.