JP4019676B2 - Golf club head - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a hollow golf club head, and more particularly to a golf club head having a wood shape or a shape similar thereto.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Hollow metal golf club heads such as drivers and fairway woods are widely used. In general, a hollow wood-type golf club head includes a face portion for hitting a ball, a crown portion constituting an upper surface portion of the golf club head, a sole portion constituting a bottom surface portion of the golf club head, and a golf club. The head includes a toe side side portion, a back side side portion, a heel side side portion, and a hosel portion that constitute side portions on the toe side, the back side, and the heel side of the head. A shaft is inserted into the hosel portion of the golf club head and fixed with an adhesive or the like. Recently, many golf club heads referred to as utility clubs are also commercially available. As one kind of utility golf club heads, the golf club heads are similar to the above-described wood type golf club heads (that is, face portions, sole portions, Various golf club heads (with side portions and crown portions) are also commercially available.
[0003]
As a metal constituting the hollow golf club head, an aluminum alloy, stainless steel, or titanium alloy is used, but in recent years, a titanium alloy is particularly widely used.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In order to increase the flight distance of hollow metal golf club heads, development focused on flying the ball far away by increasing the rebound of the ball by thinning the face and increasing the deflection of the face surface. ing. However, at present, for golfers with a slow head speed, this type of golf club head has little deformation of the face surface, has little effect of increasing the initial ball speed, and the distance does not increase because the ball does not rise. is there.
[0005]
Although it may be possible to make the face part thinner to enable even a golfer with a slow head speed to obtain a large deflection on the face, a golf club with such a head is used by a golfer with a fast head speed. Then, the face part may be plastically deformed.
[0006]
Even if a golfer with a slow head speed is used, the launch angle becomes high, and as a result, the flight distance can be increased. Moreover, even if a golfer with a fast head speed is used, the face portion is plastically deformed. An object is to provide a golf club head that does not.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The golf club head of the present invention is a hollow golf club head having a face portion, a sole portion, a side portion, a crown portion, and a hosel portion, and at least the face portion has a plurality of titanium alloys having a thickness of 0.2 to 0.8 mm. during the manufacturing sheet metal, is composed of a composite material formed by interposing a synthetic resins layer reinforced with high modulus fibers, and the face portion is characterized in that consists of only the composite .
[0008]
A carbon fiber is suitable as the highly elastic fiber.
[0009]
In such a golf club head of the present invention, even if the thin metal plate of the composite material is thinned, the thin metal plate is reinforced with a high elastic fiber, so that it is not plastically deformed. For this reason, even a golfer with a fast head speed can be used sufficiently. And if the composite metal thin plate that makes up the face part is made quite thin to make it easy to bend, the initial speed of the ball will increase and the backspin amount will increase even when used by a novice or powerless player with a slow head speed. Increases and launch angle also increases. Then, the overlapping of these actions increases the flight distance.
[0010]
In the present invention, at least the face portion is made of a composite material. Specifically, only the face portion may be formed of this composite material, and the face portion and the crown portion may be integrally formed of this composite material. In addition, other parts connected to the face part may be integrally formed of a composite material. However, in order to simplify the manufacturing process, the face part or the face part and the crown part may be integrally formed of a composite material. preferable. The other parts are preferably made of metal.
[0011]
The present invention is suitable for application to a hollow wood type golf club head. An example of the golf club head is a driver. However, the present invention is also applicable to a fairway wood, a utility golf club head similar to a wood type, and the like.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golf club head 1 according to an embodiment, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a composite material.
[0013]
The hollow golf club head 1 is disposed on the back portion so as to connect the face portion 2, the crown portion 3, the sole portion 4, the toe side portion 5a, the heel side portion 5c, and these side portions 5a and 5c. The back side portion 5b and the hosel portion 6 are provided. In this embodiment, the side portions on the toe side, the back side and the heel side, the sole portion, the crown portion, and the hosel portion are integrally cast from metal, and the face portion 2 made of a composite material is connected to this. Has been. Examples of the metal constituting the portion other than the face portion 2 include titanium, a titanium alloy, stainless steel, and an aluminum alloy, but a titanium alloy is preferable.
[0014]
The composite material constituting the face portion 2 is obtained by interposing a highly elastic fiber material 22 between a plurality of thin metal plates 21.
[0015]
Metals constituting the metal thin plate 21 is Chi Tango gold. The thickness of the thin metal plate 21 is 0.2 to 0.8 mm, particularly preferably about 0.3 to 0.6 mm. The titanium alloy preferably has a longitudinal elastic modulus of about 75 to 130 GPa (75,000 to 130000 N / m).
[0016]
The number of laminated metal sheets is preferably 2 to 6, particularly 2 to 4. FIG. 3 shows an example in which three metal thin plates are used.
[0017]
A carbon fiber is suitable as the high elastic fiber of the high elastic fiber material interposed between the metal thin plates.
[0018]
The high elastic fiber based materials, Ru using a reinforced synthetic resin with high elastic fibers (e.g., CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic)).
[0019]
A high elastic fiber cloth may be bonded to the metal thin plate 21 with an adhesive. As the adhesive, an epoxy, urethane, acrylic, chloroprene adhesive or the like can be used. In particular, an elastic rubber adhesive such as a urethane adhesive or a chloroprene adhesive is preferable. By having elasticity, peeling between the stacked layers is prevented.
[0020]
In order to laminate and integrate the high elastic fiber cloth with the metal thin plate, a thermoplastic synthetic resin sheet may be interposed between the cloth and the metal thin plate, and may be integrated (heat fusion) by heating and pressing. As this thermoplastic synthetic resin, in addition to polyamide such as nylon, urethane or the like can be used.
[0021]
When laminating synthetic resin reinforced with high elastic fiber and thin metal plate 21, uncured thermosetting synthetic resin material is made of high elastic fiber cloth or UD sheet (fiber direction is aligned with UD sheet in one direction). It is desirable that the prepreg impregnated in the metal sheet is interposed between the metal thin plates and integrated by applying pressure and heating in the laminating direction to form a composite material. As the thermosetting synthetic resin constituting the prepreg, epoxy resin, vinyl ester resin, urethane resin, or the like can be used.
[0022]
The composite material constituting the face portion 2 preferably has an elastic modulus of about 40 to 100 GPa, particularly about 50 to 80 GPa, particularly about 55 to 70 GPa.
[0023]
In this embodiment, parts other than the face part 2 are integrally cast with metal, and an opening 8 that is slightly smaller than the face part 2 is provided on the front face of the cast body. The cast body includes a flange portion 9 that forms an edge portion of the opening 8. In this embodiment, the face portion 2 made of a composite material is fixed to the flange portion 9 with a screw 10. The screw 10 is screwed from the front side of the face portion 2. After the screw 10 is fully screwed, a part of the head of the screw is ground and removed to be flush with the front surface of the face portion 2.
[0024]
In the golf club head 1 configured as described above, by making the composite metal thin plate 21 constituting the face portion 2 sufficiently thin, the face portion 2 is easily bent at the time of impact.
[0025]
Therefore, even if a golfer with a slow head speed is used, the face portion 2 is sufficiently bent at the time of impact, and a large repulsion is obtained, the initial velocity of the ball increases, the backspin amount increases, and the launch angle also increases. With these actions, even when a golfer with a slow head speed (for example, a golfer with a head speed of about 43 m / sec or less) is used, a large flight distance can be obtained.
[0026]
Further, since the metal thin plate 21 is laminated and integrated with the high elastic fiber material 22 and is reinforced by the high elastic fiber, the face portion 2 is plastically deformed even when a golfer having a high head speed is used. It does not happen.
[0027]
In the above embodiment, only the face portion 2 is composed of a composite material. However, the face portion 2 and the crown portion 3 are integrally formed of the same composite material, and other than the face portion 2 and the crown portion 3. The face portion 2 and the crown portion 3 made of a composite material may be fixed to the casting by screwing or the like.
[0028]
In the above embodiment, the face portion 2 made of a composite material or the portion other than the face portion 2 and the crown portion 3 is integrally cast with metal, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the sole part and the side part may be formed by forging.
[0029]
The golf club head of the present invention may be obtained by fixing a cast part and a forged part by welding or the like. A balancer (a heavy piece) may be fixed to the metal portion by screwing or the like.
[0030]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the golf club head of the present invention, even if a golfer with a slow head speed is used, the launch angle becomes high and the flight distance can be increased. Moreover, even when a golfer with a high head speed is used, the face portion does not undergo plastic deformation.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golf club head according to an embodiment.
2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG.
3A and 3B are configuration diagrams of a composite material, where FIG. 3A is an exploded view, and FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view of the composite material.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Golf club head 2 Face part 3 Crown part 4 Sole part 5a Toe side part 5b Back side part 5c Heel side part 6 Hosel part 21 Metal thin plate 22 High elastic fiber material

Claims (7)

In a hollow golf club head having a face portion, a sole portion, a side portion, a crown portion and a hosel portion,
At least the face portion, during the titanium alloy sheet metal a plurality of thickness 0.2 to 0.8 mm, is composed of a composite material formed by interposing a synthetic resins layer reinforced with high modulus fibers, The golf club head is characterized in that the face portion is made only of the composite material.   2. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the highly elastic fiber is a carbon fiber. According to claim 1 or 2, the golf club head characterized in that the synthetic resins layer of the composite materials are reinforced with high modulus fiber cloth. In any one of claims 1 to 3, the golf club head, wherein the face portion and the crown portion is made of said composite material. In any one of claims 1 to 4, the peripheral edge of the face portion is the metal golf club head, wherein the composite material is screwing to the periphery. 5. The golf club head according to claim 4, wherein parts other than the face part and the crown part are made of metal, and the composite material constituting the face part and the crown part is screwed to the metal part. In any one of claims 1 to 6 golf club head the thickness of the titanium alloy sheet metal, characterized in that a 0.3 to 0.6 mm.

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