JP2007275622A - Golf club head - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a golf club head which can be mass-produced while making the best use of high specific gravity of tungsten even if the head has a complex shape. <P>SOLUTION: The golf club head body except for a face plate 14' is formed of a cast tungsten alloy including at least 15-70 wt.% of tungsten, 15-70 wt.% of iron, and 9-65 wt.% of nickel and having specific gravity of 9 or higher. A corrosion control process is applied on the head body of the tungsten alloy part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a golf club head using tungsten. Examples of the golf club head include a hollow golf club head made of metal such as a wood head, a putter, and an iron golf club head.

For example, putters and iron club heads in golf clubs are conventionally made of metal such as iron or titanium. If the golf club head is the same size, the head with a large moment of inertia around the center of gravity has a larger sweet area, and the head is stable and the direction of the ball is stable even when the hitting point is out of the sweet spot. Therefore, it is preferable. Therefore, it is generally desirable to form the material with a large specific gravity. Examples of metals having a higher specific gravity than iron or titanium include copper, lead, and tungsten. Articles that are desired to be formed of a material having a large specific gravity include fishing weights and lures in the sense that they can be miniaturized. It can also be used for bicycle parts.
However, the practical range for sporting goods is limited because copper and lead are too soft. Tungsten has the largest specific gravity among the above metals, and if it can be used, the moment of inertia of a golf club head or the like can be increased, and if it has the same weight, the size can be reduced. . Golf club heads using tungsten are disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 below. The former is manufactured by sintering, and the latter is manufactured by sintering forging.
JP 7-216490 A JP-A-9-262326

Tungsten has a melting temperature of 3370 ° C., and when an industrial product made of tungsten is molded, it cannot be melted and cast in relation to a furnace, and usually powder is sintered and molded as disclosed in the above publication. Do it. However, in the case of sintering molding, it is difficult to mold complex shapes, and in general, the sintering time is long, and the sintering temperature is still high at about 1500 ° C. There is an industrial problem that the molding cost is not cheap. In the case of performing forging after sintering, a process called forging is further required due to the above-mentioned problem of the sintering method, which requires more work. In addition, the molded product by the sintering method has high hardness and is difficult to finish by cutting or mechanical polishing.
Therefore, the problem to be solved is to provide a golf club head which can be mass-produced even if it has a complicated shape while making the highest specific gravity of tungsten possible. Another object is to provide a low-cost golf club head. It is another object of the present invention to provide a golf club head having characteristics that can be easily finished when necessary.

  In view of the above object, in claim 1 of the present invention, it contains at least 15 to 70% by weight of tungsten, 15 to 70% by weight of iron, and 9 to 65% by weight of nickel, and has a specific gravity of 9 or more, Provided is a golf club head comprising a tungsten alloy part formed by casting, wherein the tungsten alloy part is subjected to rust prevention treatment.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the golf club head according to the first aspect, wherein the applied rust prevention treatment is a corrosion-resistant protective film.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the golf club head according to the second aspect, wherein the corrosion-resistant protective coating is plating.

  In claim 1, when tungsten is used in the above range, the molding temperature is about 1300 to 1400 ° C. while maintaining a higher specific gravity than that of titanium or iron, which is lower than the temperature in the case of sintering molding. A golf club head having a tungsten alloy portion that is relatively simple and low-cost can be provided without applying a new special furnace because a casting method (lost wax method or the like) can be applied.

The tungsten alloy portion according to claims 1 to 3 further forges the material by casting, thereby making the metal structure denser and improving the strength.
Moreover, a tungsten alloy product containing at least 15 to 70 wt% tungsten, 15 to 70 wt% iron, and 9 to 65 wt% nickel and having a specific gravity of 9 or more is obtained by casting, and at least the cast product If you provide a manufacturing method for sports equipment such as golf club heads, the melting temperature can be lowered by adding nickel and iron, and the flow of hot water can be improved by adding iron. It is possible to industrially cast a tungsten alloy having a high value of 9 or more, and sports goods can be provided at low cost.

  Moreover, in the said manufacturing method, if a tungsten alloy product provides the manufacturing method of the sporting goods obtained by further forging after casting, metal structure can be made denser and intensity | strength can be improved by forging. Further, for example, when a golf club head is considered as an example of sports equipment, when a certain type of golf club set is manufactured, the casting mold is less than the type of head constituting the golf club set. For example, the loft angle of the head (material) formed by casting can be changed according to the count by forging, and the cost can be reduced. Furthermore, considering the case of producing a plurality of types of golf club sets, each count head of one type of set is molded by casting. The same head (material) as each count head of the set is formed by casting, and based on this, for example, the loft angle can be changed somewhat for each type of set by forging. In this way, the loft angles of the same count heads between different types of sets can be made slightly different so that a set according to the user's habits and preferences can be selected. Such multiple types of sets can be provided at low cost.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail based on an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a front view of a head 10 of an iron golf club in which a hosel portion 12 is integrated, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. A cavity (concave portion) 16 is formed on the rear side of the face portion 14 of the head 10, and a sole portion 18 is formed below the cavity. In the present invention, the head with the hosel part is formed by a casting method including at least 15 to 70% by weight of tungsten, 15 to 70% by weight of iron, and 9 to 65% by weight of nickel, and having a specific gravity of 9 or more. Molded with tungsten alloy.

Table 1 below shows various experimental examples performed for the head casting.

  In the above experiment, the cast product (head) was evaluated from the three viewpoints of hot water flow, cast surface state other than the nest pattern, sink mark, twist, and the like, and nest generation. The composition is composed mainly of tungsten W, iron Fe, and nickel Ni. In addition, in this experimental example, tin Sn and copper Cu are added in an amount of about 1% by weight, but one or both of them are present. The presence of small amounts of other additives with or without one or both of these is acceptable. Iron joins mainly to improve the hot water flow and plays a role of lowering the melting temperature, and nickel mainly contributes to lowering the melting temperature.

  The cases evaluated as poor (×) as the overall evaluation are Experimental Examples 1 and 3 except for Experimental Examples 11 and 12 for the reason that the specific gravity is less than 9. Both the iron is 10%, the hot water flow is poor, and the head end is low. Chipping etc. occurred in the part. Moreover, it is thought that the cast skin state did not become beautiful by the bad hot water flow. In Experimental Example 1, nests were observed, and the product was judged to be defective. Comparing Experimental Examples 2 and 3, Experimental Example 2 has a low nickel content of 14% but a high iron content of 15%, which improves the casting flow condition and prevents the formation of nests. It is thought that it was done. In all other experimental examples, the weight percentage of iron exceeds 15%, the hot water flow is good, and other evaluation items are also good.

  As a result, the weight% of iron must be 15% or more and 70% or less, and tungsten must be 15% or more in order to make the specific gravity 9 or more. In addition, when the weight percent of tungsten exceeds 70%, the amount of other compositions is too small according to Experimental Example 1, resulting in poor evaluation. When attention is paid to nickel, when the overall evaluation is good (◯), the range is 9% or more and 65% or less. The sporting goods such as the head thus cast can be processed for finishing as compared with the sintered product. Further, in order to avoid finishing as much as possible, it is preferable to use precision casting such as a so-called lost wax method.

  3 and 4 show a second embodiment. That is, in the head 10 of this example, the head main body portion excluding the face plate 14 'forming the face portion is formed of the tungsten alloy according to the present invention. In addition, a region of the head main body located on the rear side of the face plate is a through cavity 10A except for the peripheral portion. The iron golf club head 10 having such a shape has a large moment of inertia around the center of gravity due to the high specific gravity of the tungsten alloy, and is an advantageous head as described above. In addition, the face plate 14 ′ is not limited to the tungsten alloy according to the present invention. For example, another suitable member having a high resilience characteristic can be selected, so that the degree of freedom in designing the head is increased.

  Further, in order to integrate the face plate 14 ′ into the head main body, the outer edge of the peripheral edge 10 </ b> H of the head main body that accommodates the face plate 14 ′ is caulked and fixed or welded. For example, when the face plate 14 ′ is made of a titanium alloy, caulking is performed, and when the face plate 14 ′ is maraging steel, welding is preferable. As in this example, in the present invention, in addition to the case where the entire product is formed of a tungsten alloy, other members may be partially combined. Moreover, the part formed with the tungsten alloy of the present invention may be subjected to a rust prevention treatment such as covering with a corrosion-resistant protective coating such as plating.

FIG. 5 is a reference example in which the tungsten alloy according to the present invention is used for a lure used for fishing. In this example, the luer body 20 is formed of the tungsten alloy according to the present invention instead of the needle 22. Therefore, the lure body 20 can be formed small.
FIG. 6 is a reference example in which the tungsten alloy according to the present invention is used for the weight 30 attached to the base portion of the fishing hook 32 used for fishing. In this case as well, the weight size can be reduced.

  FIG. 7 is a reference example applied to a spinning reel, and a tungsten alloy according to the present invention is used for a bail holder 40 that is mounted on an arm portion 44 of a rotor and holds a bail 42. This is used as an adjusting material for balancing the rotation of the rotor. This is advantageous because when the weight is positively required to balance the rotation, the weight size can be reduced.

  The present invention can be used for a golf club head using tungsten.

FIG. 1 is a front view of an iron golf club head as a first application embodiment according to the present invention. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. FIG. 3 is a front view showing a head as a second application example. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line DD in FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram of a lure as a reference example. FIG. 6 is a view of a fishhook as a reference example. FIG. 7 is a view of a spinning reel as a reference example.

Explanation of symbols

10 Iron Golf Club Head 12 Hosel Part 14 Face Part 14 'Face Plate

Claims (3)

  The tungsten alloy comprising at least 15 to 70 wt% tungsten, 15 to 70 wt% iron, and 9 to 65 wt% nickel, having a specific gravity of 9 or more and having a cast tungsten alloy portion; A golf club head characterized in that a portion is subjected to rust prevention treatment.   The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the rust prevention treatment is a corrosion-resistant protective coating.   The golf club head according to claim 2, wherein the corrosion-resistant protective coating is plating.

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