JPH08318009A - Golf club head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a golf club head capable of improving the feel of impact at the time of hitting a ball while maintaining the excellent performance, such as the lightness in weight, increased carry of the hit ball, directional stability, etc., possessed by a golf club head made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic. CONSTITUTION: This golf club head 1 is formed by packing a core material 3 consisting of a resin foam into the inner side of a shell consisting of the carbon fiber reinforced plastic. A plate 6 made of metal or wood is embedded into the inner side of a face 4 constituting the ball fitting surface of the shell of such golf club head.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a golf club head made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic. More specifically, the golf club head made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic is excellent in lightness, improved flight distance of hit ball and directional stability. The present invention relates to a golf club head having improved hitting feel at the time of hitting the ball, particularly excellent golf club head for wood type.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A wood type golf club head made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic having a resin foam core filled in an outer shell made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic is lighter than metal or wooden golf club heads. Moreover, it has the characteristics of increasing the flight distance of a hit ball and being excellent in directional stability.

However, although the wood type golf club head made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic has the above-mentioned excellent characteristics, the impact sound at the time of hitting the ball is slow, so that it gives the player the feeling of being hit nicely. There was a drawback that you couldn't. Further, as compared with a metal golf club head, there is a problem that the face (ball striking face) is easily deformed and the durability is deteriorated.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a golf club head made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic, which has excellent characteristics such as lightness, increased flight distance of a hit ball and stability of direction while hitting a ball. An object is to provide a golf club head that improves the feel of impact.

[0005]

The golf club head of the present invention which achieves the above object is a golf club head in which a core made of resin foam is filled inside a shell made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic. It is characterized in that a metal or wooden plate is embedded inside a face forming a ball striking face.

By embedding a metal or wooden plate inside the face of the outer shell of the carbon fiber reinforced plastic as described above, a sharp metal hitting sound is generated at the time of hitting the ball based on this plate, and the player is given a sound. It is possible to give a satisfying hit feeling. Further, the insertion of the plate improves the impact resistance of the face and suppresses the deformation of the face at the time of hitting the ball, so that the durability of the club head can be improved and the directional stability of the ball can be maintained. Moreover, since the surface of the face is made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic, damage to the ball can be reduced as compared with a metal golf club head.

The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a wood type golf club head according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the wood type golf club head taken along a plane orthogonal to the face. In the wood type golf club head 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the outer shell 2 is molded from carbon fiber reinforced plastic, and a core material 3 made of a resin foam is filled inside and integrated with the outer shell 2. A face 4 serving as a ball striking surface is formed on the outer side of the outer shell 2, and a sole 5 is formed on the bottom surface.

A plate 6 made of metal or wood is embedded on the back surface side of the face 4 of the outer shell 2 so as to be sandwiched between the outer shell 2 and the core material 3. The plate 6 has a cylindrical convex portion 6a on the back surface.
Are integrally formed, and this acts on the core material 3 as an anchor. Further, since the convex portion 6a gives the plate 6 an appropriate capacity, the hit feeling at the time of hitting the ball is further improved.

The convex portion 6a on the back surface of the plate 6 is not always necessary, and may be a flat plate shape substantially parallel to the face 4 as shown in FIG. 3, or an outer shell as shown in FIG. It may be sandwiched inside 2 to be inserted in layers. The present invention having the above structure is particularly preferably applied to a wood type golf club head, but is also applicable to an iron type golf club head.

In the present invention, the reinforcing fiber of the carbon fiber reinforced plastic of the outer shell is carbon fiber, and it is preferable that this carbon fiber is the total amount of the reinforcing fiber, but as long as the main component is 50% by weight or more. , It is not always necessary to occupy the entire amount of reinforcing fibers. For example, other reinforcing fibers such as glass fiber and aramid fiber may be mixed as a minor component.

As the carbon fiber, either a single fiber or a long fiber may be used. In addition, as a form thereof, a unidirectional sheet, a cloth, a mat, a sheet molding compound (SMC), a bulk molding compound (B
MC) and the like. As the matrix resin constituting the carbon fiber reinforced plastic, not only thermosetting resins such as epoxy resin, unsaturated polyester resin and vinyl ester resin but also thermoplastic resins such as polyamide, polyester and polyetherketone can be applied. .

As the material used for the core material, any of the known resin foams used for the core material can be used. In particular, microcapsules of vinylidene chloride-acrylonitrile copolymer (Nippon Ferrite Co., Ltd. )) Is preferred. In the present invention, titanium, aluminum, magnesium and brass are preferable as the metal of the material forming the plate. Of these, titanium and magnesium, which are excellent in lightness, are particularly preferable. The wood of which the plate is made is preferably a hard one such as persimmon, cherry blossom, oak or pine.

In the golf club head of the present invention, the plate 6 made of metal or wood is embedded inside the face 4 formed on the outer shell 2 of carbon fiber reinforced plastic.
A sharp metal hitting sound is generated at the time of hitting the ball, and the player can have a nice shot feeling. Further, since the plate 6 only occupies a part of the outer shell 2, the original lightweightness of the carbon fiber reinforced plastic is not hindered, and excellent specifications such as flight distance and directional stability of the hit ball are maintained. can do.

Further, by inserting the plate 6 inside the face 4, deformation of the face 4 at the time of hitting the ball is suppressed and impact resistance is improved, so that durability of the club head can be improved. Further, since the face 4 is not deformed, the directional stability of the hit ball can be further enhanced. Furthermore, since the surface of the face 4 is made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic rather than metal, damage to the ball can be reduced.

[0015]

EXAMPLE A thermally expandable hollow microcapsule (“Expansel” manufactured by Nippon Ferrite Co., Ltd.) was filled in a mold for preform and heated and expanded at 120 ° C. for 30 minutes to form an intermediate foamed core material. Molded. On the other hand, an SMC (Sheet Molding Compound) containing 40% by weight of carbon fiber (“Torayca” manufactured by Toray Industries, Inc.) cut into an uncured vinyl ester resin in a length of 1 inch was used around the core material. At the time of coating, titanium, aluminum, magnesium, and
A molded object was prepared in which 5 types of plates of brass and wood were arranged.

Next, each of the five types of molded objects is set in a two-divided mold and heated at 130 ° C. for 10 minutes to simultaneously foam the core material and cure the carbon fiber reinforced plastic, Five wood type golf club heads were manufactured. Further, for comparison, a wood type golf club head made of a carbon fiber reinforced plastic filled with a foamed core material was manufactured in the same manner as above except that the plate was not embedded.

Shafts were attached to these six types of wood type golf club heads, each set on a swing tester, and a continuous 400-ball (initial speed 45 m / s) ball-hit test was conducted. The wood golf club head of the present invention produced a sharp hitting sound at the time of hitting the ball, while the wood golf club head of the comparative example in which the plate was not embedded made only a dull hitting sound.

As a result of examining the deformation of the face, there was no change in the above five kinds of wood golf club heads of the present invention, but the wood golf club head of the comparative example was deformed.

[0019]

As described above, the carbon club reinforced plastic golf club head according to the present invention has an original lightweight property,
It is possible to improve the feel when hitting a ball and to improve the impact resistance of the face while maintaining excellent characteristics such as increased flight distance of the hit ball and directional stability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wood type golf club head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the wood type golf club head of FIG. 1 taken along a plane orthogonal to the face.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a wood type golf club head according to another embodiment of the present invention, which corresponds to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a wood type golf club head according to another embodiment of the present invention, which corresponds to FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Wood type golf club head 2 Outer shell 3 Core material 4 Face 6 Plate

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A golf club head having an outer shell made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic filled with a core material made of resin foam, wherein a metal or wooden plate is embedded inside a face forming a ball striking face of the outer shell. Golf club head. 2. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the metal of the plate is any one selected from the group consisting of titanium, aluminum, magnesium and brass.