JP4373746B2 - Golf club head - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a golf club head that can improve aesthetics.

  Golf club heads, especially wood-type golf club heads, are increasing in size for the purpose of improving hitting performance such as flight distance and directionality, and at the same time, the design and appearance of the head are required to have beauty and luxury. Yes. Particularly in recent years, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 below have proposed metallic coatings that give metallic luster and polarizing coatings that appear to have different colors depending on the incident direction of light or the intensity of light. .

JP-A-11-235405 JP 2002-325868 A

  However, nowadays, since various products with metallic coating or polarization coating are sold, these coatings have no novelty of the head and are difficult to differentiate from other products in the market.

  The present invention has been devised in view of the above-described problems, and is based on the fact that the coating film includes a diffractive coating film portion that shines in rainbow colors by light diffraction, and is a novel and excellent golf club. The purpose is to provide a head.

The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is a golf club head in which a coating film is formed on at least a part of the surface of a head substrate, and the coating film is a diffractive diffraction in which a diffraction grating piece is included in a colored clear paint. colored clear diffraction layer made of grating pieces containing colored clear paint, or-law including the diffractive coating unit having a colorless clear diffraction layer made of colorless transparent clear paint moistened with grating strips the diffraction grating pieces containing a colorless clear coating and A golf club head characterized by

In the invention described in claim 1, the diffraction grating piece is a fine plate-like substrate having a plurality of grooves extending in parallel on the surface thereof, and a base material that is opaque and reflects light, and Including a transparent surface material that transmits light integrally provided on both side surfaces of the base material, the incident light is reflected and diffracted to decompose white light into a spectrum.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the diffractive coating film part is formed on the outermost side of the base layer formed on the head substrate side, a colored layer formed on the outer side and made of a colored paint, and the outer side of the colored layer. It said colored clear diffraction layer, characterized by comprising the top clear layer composed of colorless transparent clear paint formed on the outside of the colored clear diffraction layer.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the diffractive coating film part is formed on the outermost side of the base layer formed on the head substrate side, a colored layer formed on the outer side and made of a colored paint, and the outer side of the colored layer. It said colorless clear diffraction layer, and the colored clear layer composed of outside is formed and colored clear paint this colorless clear diffraction layer, and the top clear layer composed of colorless transparent clear paint formed on the outside of the colored clear layer It is characterized by comprising.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the head base includes a face surface for hitting a ball, a crown surface that is connected to the upper edge of the face surface and forms the upper surface of the head, and a toe side edge of the face surface through the back face. And a coating film is formed on at least the crown surface and protrudes downward from the upper edge of the face surface and the upper edge of the side surface, respectively. It is characterized by that .

In the invention according to claim 5 , the coating film has the diffraction coating film part and a non-diffraction coating part not including the diffraction grating piece, and the non-diffraction coating part is at least a crown surface. It is formed in a peripheral region of said diffractive coating unit, characterized in that formed on the crown surface central portion.

The invention according to claim 6 is that the coating thickness in the peripheral area of the crown surface is smaller than the coating thickness at the center of the crown surface, and the invention according to claim 7 is characterized in that the plate-like member is The length L of one side is 15 to 25 μm, the thickness t is 0.5 to 2.5 μm, and the invention of claim 8 is characterized in that the diffraction coating has a colored clear diffraction layer, The invention according to claim 9 includes a diffraction grating piece of 0.1 to 5.0% by weight with respect to 100% by weight of the colored clear paint, and the diffracted coating film portion has a colored clear diffraction layer. The colored clear diffraction layer has a thickness of 5 to 30 μm, and the invention according to claim 10 is characterized in that the total thickness of the coating film is 40 to 100 μm.

  In the golf club head of the present invention, the diffractive coating film portion formed on at least a part of the surface of the head base shines in iridescence by light diffraction. Therefore, the aesthetics of the head can be significantly improved.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 is a perspective view of a golf club head of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a rear view thereof, FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a schematic enlarged view of a cut surface of AA portion of FIG. It is a fragmentary sectional view shown.

  A golf club head (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as “head”) 1 of the present embodiment is composed of a head base 2 made of a metal material and a coating film 3 formed on the surface thereof. The form is exemplified by a wood type.

  The head base 2 is made of a metal material, and preferably employs titanium, titanium alloy, stainless steel, aluminum alloy or the like. However, the material is not limited to the above materials, and other metal materials, fiber reinforced resin, and the like can be used. Further, the head base 2 passes through the back face from the toe side edge 4c of the face surface 4 through the back face from the face surface 4 on which the ball is hit, the crown surface 5 which is connected to the upper edge 4a of the face surface 4 and forms the upper surface of the head. It is formed with a hollow structure including a side surface 6 forming a side surface extending to the heel side edge 4d of the surface 4, a sole surface 7 connecting to the lower edge 4b of the face surface 4 and forming a head bottom surface, and a hosel 8 to which a shaft is attached. Has been.

  A coating film 3 is provided on a part of the head substrate 2. The head 1 of the present invention includes a diffractive coating film portion 3 </ b> A in which the coating film 3 shines in rainbow colors due to light diffraction. In such a head 1, when viewed under white light (sunlight) including a plurality of wavelengths, diffraction occurs, and interference occurs in each light wave, resulting in rainbow-colored brilliance, remarkably improving the head's aesthetics. Can be improved. In the following embodiment, the diffraction coating film portion 3A having a four-layer structure will be described together with the coating process.

  First, the surface of the head base 2 is polished in advance with a wire brush, sandblast, or the like. Then, the primer layer is applied to form a base layer 3a on the surface of the head substrate 2. By the polishing, the surface area of the head substrate 2 is increased. This is useful for improving the adhesion between the head substrate 2 and the coating film 3. The primer is a colorless and transparent paint, and a thermosetting paint using a polyester resin, a urethane resin, an epoxy resin, an acrylic resin, or the like as a base resin is used. In this example, a primer based on a thermosetting polyester resin coating is used because it has good adhesion to metal materials such as titanium alloy and stainless steel and is resistant to impact.

  The head substrate 2 is baked by, for example, heating at 150 ° C. for about 15 minutes after the primer is uniformly coated on the coating surface. As a result, the primer is cured on the surface of the head substrate 2 to form the base layer 3a. Such an undercoat layer 3a is useful for improving the adhesion with a paint to be applied later and improving the durability of the coating film. Damage such as pinholes in the head substrate 2 is repaired by a putty material or the like at the stage of the base treatment.

  The thickness of the undercoat layer 3a is not particularly limited, but if it is too small, it tends to be difficult to smooth the unevenness on the surface of the head substrate 2; In addition to adhesion, impact resistance tends to decrease. From such a viewpoint, the thickness of the base layer 3a is preferably 5 to 40 μm, more preferably 10 to 25 μm.

  A colored layer 3b obtained by curing a colored paint is formed on the outside of the base layer 3a. The colored paint is not particularly limited, but various thermosetting paints containing a polyester resin, a urethane resin, an epoxy resin, an acrylic resin, etc. as a base resin and blended with a pigment and a solvent. Can be used. The color of the pigment is not particularly limited, and various colors can be adopted. In this example, it is desirable to use a black or black one. As the colored paint of this example, a paint in which a black pigment is blended with a polyester resin is used in the same manner as the primer. The head base 2 is baked at about 150 ° C. for about 15 minutes after a colored paint is applied to the outside of the base layer 3a. Thereby, the colored layer 3b in which the colored paint is cured on the base layer 3a is formed.

  If the thickness of the colored layer 3b is too thin, the workability tends to be difficult, for example, requiring skillful techniques in the coating process. Conversely, if the thickness of the colored layer 3b is too large, the colored layer 3b becomes brittle and has impact resistance. Tends to decrease. From such a viewpoint, the thickness of the colored layer 3b is not particularly limited, but is preferably 1 to 30 μm, and more preferably 5 to 25 μm.

  On the outside of the colored layer 3b, a colored clear diffraction layer 3c made of a colored clear paint containing a diffraction grating piece in which the diffraction grating piece P is included in the colored clear paint is formed. As the colored clear paint, for example, a thermosetting paint such as a polyester resin, a urethane resin, an epoxy resin, or an acrylic resin can be preferably used. In the present embodiment, as in the case of the base layer 3a and the colored layer 3b, a polyester resin is used. Resin paint is used. The colored clear paint is colored and transparent having a color but having a light transmission property. The color is not particularly limited, but preferably a dark color system such as gray or navy is desirable for a golf club head for men, and a red, purple or blue color is desirable for a head for women.

  FIG. 5A shows an enlarged view of one of the diffraction grating pieces P. The diffraction grating piece P of this embodiment is formed by providing a large number of grooves 11 extending in parallel on the surface of a fine and substantially square plate-like substrate 10. The plate-like substrate 10 includes an opaque base material 10a made of a metal material such as aluminum and reflects light, and a transparent surface material 10b that is integrally provided on both side surfaces of the base material 10a and transmits light. Contains. The base material 10a is bent into a smooth wave shape. As a result, a large number of grooves 10a1 extending in parallel are formed. Further, the surface materials 10b and 10b also have a wavy surface shape substantially matched to the base material 10b, and therefore, a large number of grooves 10b1 parallel to the surface are formed. The surface material 10b can be made of a light-transmitting resin or glass. The length L of one side of the plate-like substrate 10 in this example is reduced to, for example, about 15 to 25 μm, and the thickness t is reduced to about 0.5 to 2.5 μm.

  A predetermined amount of the diffraction grating piece P is blended with the colored clear paint to create a colored clear paint containing a diffraction grating piece, and the paint is applied to the outside of the colored layer 3b. Many of the diffraction grating pieces P have a thin plate shape having a small aspect ratio as described above, and are oriented substantially parallel to the painted surface. The head substrate 2 is baked at about 150 ° C. for about 15 minutes and cured on the colored layer 3b to form the colored clear diffraction layer 3c.

  When the white light (sunlight) WL having a plurality of wavelengths is incident on the surface of the colored clear diffraction layer 3c including such a diffraction grating piece P, as schematically shown in FIG. Reflected and diffracted by the groove 10a1 of the base material 10a. Thereby, white light is decomposed into a spectrum. Then, interference occurs in the light wave diffracted by each groove 10a1, and light of a specific wavelength is reflected (dispersed) in a specific direction. From such a colored clear diffractive layer 3c, the viewer has a continuous rainbow-like shape including a blue color with a short wavelength on the front side, a red color with a long wavelength on the back side, and a green color with an intermediate wavelength therebetween. The brightness of the spectrum can be seen. This rainbow-colored brightness can be imagined without difficulty as an approximation of the brightness of the CD-ROM board, for example.

  This spectrum is a continuous color change, and the shape, width, and color can be changed freely according to changes in conditions such as viewing position and light quantity, and in particular, it gives the viewer a novel, high-class and beautiful impression as the golf club head 1. be able to. On the other hand, when the amount of light is relatively small, or in a portion where the effect of diffraction associated with the position of the viewpoint is small, the color tone of reflected light of the color of the colored clear paint and the color of the colored layer 3b visible through the head is changed. It can also be seen as one main color.

  As the diffraction grating piece P, in addition to FIG. 5A, for example, a groove 11 formed by serrated irregularities as shown in FIG. 5B may be used. In this embodiment, the reflective coating 13 is coated on the upper and lower surfaces of the base plate substrate 14 made of, for example, resin. Further, an arcuate groove can be provided as shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 3D, a circular diffraction grating piece P having grooves 11 extending concentrically may be used. As described above, a so-called reflective diffraction grating piece is used as the diffraction grating piece P, but the shape, material, and the like are not limited as long as the diffraction grating piece P causes light diffraction. Although not shown, for example, the diffraction grating piece P may be formed in a sheet shape and attached to the coating film.

  The diffraction grating piece P is desirably blended in an amount of 0.1 to 5.0% by weight, more preferably 0.3 to 1.5% by weight, based on 100% by weight of the colored clear paint. When the amount of the diffraction grating piece P is less than 0.1% by weight, the diffraction effect tends to be difficult to obtain effectively. On the other hand, when it exceeds 5.0% by weight, the appearance is excessively glaring. There is a tendency that a sense of luxury is slightly impaired.

  Moreover, if the colored clear diffraction layer 3c is too thin, there is a tendency that the depth of the appearance is lost and the sense of quality is lost. Conversely, if the thickness of the colored clear diffraction layer 3c is too large, the impact resistance tends to decrease. From such a viewpoint, the thickness of the colored clear diffraction layer 3c is not particularly limited, but is preferably 5 to 30 μm, and more preferably 10 to 20 μm.

  On the outside of the colored clear diffraction layer 3c, a clear clear paint is applied to form a top clear layer 3d. The top clear layer 3d covers and protects the colored clear diffractive layer 3c while ensuring the arrival of light to the diffraction grating piece P of the colored clear diffractive layer 3c inside thereof, and durability, impact resistance, Improve the depth of appearance. As the clear paint, for example, a thermosetting paint having a base resin of polyester resin, urethane resin, epoxy resin, acrylic resin, or the like is desirable. In this example, as a clear paint, a thermosetting paint having a polyester resin as a base resin is applied to the outside of the colored clear diffraction layer 3c and baked by heating at 150 ° C. for 15 minutes to obtain a desired golf club head 1. It was.

  And the total thickness h of the said coating film 3 is 100 micrometers or less, More preferably, it is desirable to set it as 40-80 micrometers. This is because, when the total thickness t of the coating film 3 exceeds 100 μm, impact resistance is lowered such as being hard and brittle.

  FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In the above embodiment, the diffraction grating piece P is blended with the colored clear paint to form the colored clear diffraction layer 3c. However, in this embodiment, the third layer is used as the colorless transparent clear paint. The aspect which mix | blended and was set as the colorless clear diffraction layer 3e is shown. Other configurations are the same as those in FIG. In this embodiment, since the amount of light incident on the diffraction grating piece P is increased, the diffraction effect of the diffraction grating piece P can be further enhanced and a glaring appearance can be provided.

  About this glare feeling, user's preference is divided. Therefore, for a head 1 that is intended for a relatively young golfer who prefers a flashy design, the head 1 having such a strong glare feeling can be preferably implemented. On the other hand, since mature golfers tend to prefer a more calm impression, in that case, it is desirable to blend the diffraction grating piece P into the colored clear paint as in the above embodiment. As a result, it is possible to reduce glare while maintaining the rainbow-color spectrum generation effect. In addition, although the said glare feeling can also be reduced by reducing the compounding quantity of the diffraction grating piece P, in this case, even a diffraction effect falls and there exists a tendency for the iridescent brightness to be impaired.

FIG. 8 shows still another embodiment of the present invention.
In this embodiment, in the aspect of FIG. 7, the aspect which comprised the colored transparent layer 3f of colored transparent between the colorless clear diffraction layer 3e and the top clear layer 3d, and comprised the coating film 3 by a total of five layers. It is shown. In particular, the colored clear layer 3f is formed with a substantially constant thickness. In this embodiment, a transparent top clear layer 3d and a colored clear layer 3f are provided, and this total thickness is the largest as compared with other embodiments. For this reason, the depth of the appearance of the head is increased, and a higher-class feeling can be enhanced.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the diffraction grating piece P is blended in the colored clear paint. For this reason, each grating piece P has a different distance from the outer surface of the colored clear diffraction layer 3c. Such a variation in the distance causes a change in the amount of light that passes through the colored clear paint and reaches each lattice piece P, and as a result, a variation in the diffraction effect, more simply, a variation in iridescent brightness tends to occur. However, in the embodiment of FIG. 8, since the light reaching each diffraction grating piece P passes through the colored clear layer 3f having the same thickness, the variation in the amount of incident light reaching the diffraction grating piece P is reduced, and as a result The color brightness can be made uniform in each part to obtain a stable color, and the appearance of the head 1 can be further improved.

  In the present invention, it is sufficient that the coating film 3 includes a diffractive coating part 3A that causes diffraction of iridescent light, and the specific number of layers constituting the diffractive coating part 3A is, for example, It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment and can be variously changed. For example, the outermost top clear layer 3d can be omitted, or can be six or more layers.

  In the head 1 of this embodiment, the coating film 3 is formed on at least the crown surface 5. It is particularly preferable that the coating film 3 protrudes from the upper edge 4a of the face surface 4 and the upper edge 6a of the side surface 6 downward (sole surface side). In this embodiment, the coating film 3 is formed so that the upper edge of the face surface 4 protrudes from the face surface 4 with a width d1 (FIG. 1) of about 3 to 5 mm, and is formed on the entire side surface 6. Show. Since the upper edge 4a of the face surface 4 and the upper edge 6a of the side surface 6 are both sharp and have low impact resistance, it is desirable to effectively protect the head substrate 2 with the coating film 3.

  By the way, the golfer addresses the head 1 toward the target using the shapes of the face surface 4 and the crown surface 4 as clues. Therefore, if the contour shape of the crown surface 4 is difficult to see, it is difficult to match the head 1 to the target. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the coating film 3 includes a diffraction coating film portion 3 </ b> A that includes the diffraction grating piece P and a non-diffraction coating film portion 3 </ b> B that does not include the diffraction grating piece P. The non-diffractive coating film portion 3B is formed in the peripheral region 5B of the crown surface 5, and the diffractive coating film portion 3A is formed in the crown surface center portion 5A.

  As a result, in the peripheral region 5B including the contour of the crown surface 5, no light diffraction effect is generated, so that the contour shape of the crown surface 5 is easy to see. Further, the central portion 5A of the crown surface 5 that hardly influences the address gives a rainbow-colored shine and can improve the appearance of the head. As described above, the head 1 of the present embodiment has an advantage that it is easy to address while maintaining the rainbow color. Preferably, the width W of the peripheral area 5B of the crown surface 5 is set to 5 mm or more, more preferably about 5 to 15 mm.

  It is desirable that the coating thickness of the peripheral area 5B of the crown surface 5 is smaller than the coating thickness of the crown surface central portion 5A. Since the peripheral region 5B of the crown surface 5 is a portion having inferior impact resistance including the above-described upper edges 4a and 6a, it is desirable to reduce the coating thickness to improve impact resistance. In addition to the wood type, the head 1 can employ various types such as an iron type, a putter type, and a utility type.

  Applying a number of golf club heads by changing the thickness of each layer of the paint film according to the specifications in Table 1, impact resistance, appearance (rainbow shine, depth and luxury) of the paint film, addressing Ease was evaluated. The paint was based on a polyester resin paint in each layer and was applied with a spray gun type coating machine. The coating was baked at 150 ° C. for 15 minutes for each layer. In Comparative Examples 1 and 2, the coating film does not include a diffraction grating piece, and in Comparative Example 3, a colored mica (polarizing material) is blended instead of the diffraction grating piece (the coating film configuration is shown in FIG. 9). It is shown.) The evaluation method is as follows.

<Impact resistance>
As for impact resistance, an iron bar having a mass of 500 g from a height of 150 mm was dropped on the coating film portion of the head, and the peeling state of the coating film was observed visually. The size and depth of damage were comprehensively observed and evaluated in five stages. It shows that it is so favorable that a numerical value is large.

<Appearance and ease of addressing>
Appearance of rainbow colors, depth of color, and the degree of luxury are addressed, and addressability is addressed outdoors in fine weather, with 10 golfers each based on the ease of head orientation adjustment. It was evaluated in 5 stages by feeling. A result shows the average value.
The evaluation results are shown in Table 1.

  It has confirmed that the thing of an Example was excellent in the external appearance compared with the comparative example. In the embodiment in which the peripheral portion of the crown surface is a non-diffractive coating film portion, the ease of holding is improved. It was also confirmed that the impact resistance of the coating film was equivalent to or improved from that of the comparative example.

It is a perspective view of the golf club head of this embodiment. FIG. It is a top view of FIG. It is sectional drawing which expands and shows typically the coating film of the AA cut surface of FIG. (A)-(D) are sectional drawings which show an example of a diffraction grating piece. It is a schematic diagram explaining the effect | action of a diffraction grating piece. It is sectional drawing explaining the coating film of other embodiment. It is sectional drawing explaining the coating film of other embodiment. It is sectional drawing explaining the coating film of the comparative example 3. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Golf club head 2 Head base | substrate 3 Coating film 3a Underlayer 3b Colored layer 3c Colored polarization clear layer 3d Clear layer

Claims (10)

A golf club head having a coating film formed on at least a part of a surface of a head substrate,
The coating film is a colored clear diffraction layer composed of a colored clear paint containing a diffraction grating piece in a colored clear paint, or a colorless clear containing a diffraction grating piece containing a diffraction grating piece in a colorless and transparent clear paint. While including a diffractive coating film portion having a colorless clear diffractive layer made of paint,
The diffraction grating piece is a fine plate-like substrate having a large number of grooves extending in parallel on the surface thereof, and an opaque and light-reflecting base material, and integrally provided on both side surfaces of the base material. A golf club head comprising: a transparent surface material that transmits transmitted light, and reflects and diffracts incident light to decompose white light into a spectrum. The diffraction coating part is
An underlayer formed on the most head substrate side;
A colored layer formed on the outside and made of a colored paint;
The colored clear diffraction layer formed outside the colored layer;
2. The golf club head according to claim 1, comprising a top clear layer made of a colorless and transparent clear paint formed outside the colored clear diffraction layer. The diffraction coating part is
An underlayer formed on the most head substrate side;
A colored layer formed on the outside and made of a colored paint;
The colorless clear diffractive layer formed outside the colored layer;
A colored clear layer formed outside the colorless clear diffraction layer and made of a colored clear paint;
2. The golf club head according to claim 1, comprising a top clear layer made of a colorless and transparent clear paint formed on the outer side of the colored clear layer. The head base extends from the toe side edge of the face surface to the heel side edge of the face surface through a back face from a toe side edge of the face surface, a face surface for hitting a ball, a crown surface connected to the upper edge of the face surface and forming the upper surface of the head. A side surface forming a side surface,
4. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the coating film is formed on at least the crown surface and protrudes downward from the upper edge of the face surface and the upper edge of the side surface. . The coating film has the diffraction coating part and a non-diffraction coating part not including the diffraction grating piece,
5. The non-diffractive coating film portion is formed at least in a peripheral region of the crown surface, and the diffractive coating film portion is formed in a central portion of the crown surface. The described golf club head.   6. The golf club head according to claim 5, wherein the coating thickness in the peripheral area of the crown surface is smaller than the coating thickness in the central portion of the crown surface. The golf club head according to any one of claims 1 to 6 , wherein the plate-like substrate has a side length of 15 to 25 µm and a thickness of 0.5 to 2.5 µm . The said diffraction coating film part has a colored clear diffraction layer, and contains 0.1-5.0 weight% of diffraction grating pieces with respect to 100 weight% of said colored clear coating materials. 8. The golf club head according to any one of 7 above. 9. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the diffractive coating film portion has a colored clear diffractive layer, and the thickness of the colored clear diffractive layer is 5 to 30 μm . The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the coating film has a total thickness of 40 to 100 μm .

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