Mixed material golf club head

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12296239-B2
Application number	US-202218069737-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2022
Priority date	May 27, 2016
Publication date	May 13, 2025
Grant date	May 13, 2025

Abstract

A golf club head includes a rear body having a crown member coupled to a sole member, and a front body coupled to the rear body to define a substantially hollow structure. The front body includes a strike face and a surrounding frame that extends rearward from a perimeter of the strike face. At least a portion of an outer wall of the club head comprises a thermoplastic composite having a plurality of lamina layers. The plurality of lamina layers include at least a fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite layer and a filled thermoplastic layer, and the fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite layer and the filled thermoplastic layer are directly bonded to each other without an intermediate adhesive.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A golf club head comprising:
a rear body including a crown member and a sole member coupled to the crown member;
a front body coupled to the rear body to define a substantially hollow structure, the front body including a strike face and a surrounding frame that extends rearward from a perimeter of the strike face;
wherein:
the front body of the golf club head comprises a thermoplastic composite having a plurality of lamina layers;
the plurality of lamina layers includes at least a fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite outer layer and a filled thermoplastic inner layer;
wherein:
the filled thermoplastic inner layer forms a rear surface of the strike face;
the filled thermoplastic inner layer includes a channel extending around a perimeter of the rear surface of the strike face;
the fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite outer layer comprises a uniform thickness;
the fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite outer layer forms a portion of the crown member, a portion of the sole member, and the strike face; and
the fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite outer layer and the filled thermoplastic inner layer are directly bonded to each other without an intermediate adhesive.

2. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the filled thermoplastic inner layer has a variable thickness.

3. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the channel extends continuously around the perimeter of the strike face.

4. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the channel extends discontinuously around one or more portions of the perimeter of the strike face.

5. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the channel extends along any portion of the rear surface of the strike face.

6. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the channel comprises a rounded concave cross-sectional geometry.

7. The golf club head of claim 6 , wherein the rounded concave cross-sectional geometry is circular, elliptical, square, rectangular, triangular, or a polygon.

8. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite outer layer comprises a multi-or uni-directional fabric embedded within a first thermoplastic resin; and
wherein the filled thermoplastic inner layer comprises a plurality of discontinuous fibers embedded within a second thermoplastic resin.

9. The golf club head of claim 8 , wherein the first thermoplastic resin and the second thermoplastic resin each comprises a common thermoplastic resin component.

10. The golf club head of claim 8 , wherein the fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite outer layer comprises the first thermoplastic resin in an amount of less than about 45% by volume; and
wherein the filled thermoplastic inner layer comprises the second thermoplastic resin in an amount of greater than about 45% by volume.

11. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite outer layer forms an outer surface of the club head.

12. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of lamina layers includes an aperture extending through a thickness of the lamina layers.

13. The golf club head of claim 12 , wherein at least two or more of the plurality of lamina layers includes an aperture extending through a thickness of the lamina layer.

14. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the filled thermoplastic inner layer forms an outward facing ball striking surface.

15. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein, between a center of the strike face and a hosel, greater than about 50% of an embedded fiber content within the filled thermoplastic inner layer is aligned within 30 degrees of a face axis extending between a toe portion of the strike face and a heel portion of the strike face and parallel to a ground plane when the club head is held at a neutral address position on the ground plane.

16. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite outer layer forms at least a portion of the surrounding frame.

17. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of lamina layers includes a plurality of unidirectional fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite layers, each unidirectional fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite layer having a fiber orientation that is different from at least one directly abutting fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite layer.

18. A golf club head comprising:
a rear body including a crown member and a sole member coupled to the crown member;
a front body coupled to the rear body to define a substantially hollow structure, the front body including a strike face and a surrounding frame that extends rearward from a perimeter of the strike face;
wherein:
at least a portion of an outer wall of the golf club head comprises a thermoplastic composite having a plurality of lamina layers;
the plurality of lamina layers include at least a fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite layer and a filled thermoplastic inner layer;
wherein:

the filled thermoplastic inner layer includes a channel extending around a perimeter of the strike face; and
the fabric reinforced thermoplastic composite layer and the filled thermoplastic inner layer are directly bonded to each other without an intermediate adhesive;
wherein the outer wall includes the strike face; and
wherein the strike face includes a flow leader portion that extends outward from a rear surface of the strike face between a toe portion of the strike face and a center of the strike face.

Assignees

• Karsten Mfg Corp

Inventors

• Morales Eric J
• Stokke Ryan M
• Jertson Martin R
• Spackman Clayson C

Classifications

• A63B60/002

  Resonance frequency related characteristics · CPC title

• A63B53/0437

  with special crown configurations · CPC title

• A63B53/0433

  with special sole configurations · CPC title

• A63B53/0416

  Heads having an impact surface provided by a face insert · CPC title

• A63B53/042

  the face insert consisting of a material different from that of the head · CPC title