Golf Club Head With Composite Face

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018147458-A1
Application number	US-201815878165-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 23, 2018
Priority date	Sep 23, 2013
Publication date	May 31, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A novel material comprising collections of prepreg plies and a variable thickness core material such as sheet molding compound or metal, methods of forming said material, and golf clubs comprising said material are disclosed herein.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method comprising:
providing first and second pluralities of prepreg materials; providing a variable thickness sheet molding compound comprising a plurality of bundles of pre-spread carbon fibers having elongated oval cross-sections and a matrix material; providing a cap; forming one or more holes in the cap; forming a combination material from the first and second pluralities of prepreg materials and the sheet molding compound; shaping the combination material into a patch; affixing the patch to a surface of a golf club head; affixing the cap to the patch; and filling the one or more holes with a thermoplastic material wherein the combination material satisfies at least one equation selected from the group consisting of

Dxx
Dyy

>

C



and

Dyy
Dxx

>
C

,

wherein D is the bending stiffness of the combination material,
wherein the plurality of bundles of pre-spread carbon fibers are randomly assorted within the matrix material, and
wherein C is at least 1.05 and is no more than 1.10.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of forming a combination material comprises co-molding the first and second pluralities of prepreg materials with the sheet molding compound.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of forming a combination material comprises bonding the first and second pluralities of prepreg materials to the sheet molding compound.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of forming a combination material comprises sandwiching the sheet molding compound between the first and second pluralities of prepreg materials.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of affixing the patch to a surface of the golf club head comprises custom-molding the patch onto the surface of the golf club head.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of affixing the patch to a surface of the golf club head comprises bonding the patch onto the surface of the golf club head with an adhesive material.

7 . A method comprising
providing first and second pluralities of prepreg plies; providing a variable thickness core compound comprising a plurality of bundles of pre-spread carbon fibers having elongated oval cross-sections, a matrix material, and a filler material selected from the group consisting of carbon nanotubes and nanoclays; sandwiching the variable thickness core compound between the first and second pluralities of prepreg plies to form a combination material; shaping the combination material into a patch; and co-molding the patch to a surface of a golf club head, wherein the combination material satisfies at least one equation selected from the group consisting of

Dxx
Dyy

>

C



and

Dyy
Dxx

>
C

,

wherein D is the bending stiffness of the combination material,
wherein the bundles of pre-spread carbon fibers are randomly assorted within the matrix material, and
wherein C is at least 1 and is no more than 1.5.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of sandwiching the variable thickness core compound between the first and second pluralities of prepreg plies further comprises the step of co-molding the variable thickness core compound with the first and second pluralities of prepreg plies.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of sandwiching the variable thickness core compound between the first and second pluralities of prepreg plies further comprises the step of bonding the variable thickness core compound to the first and second pluralities of prepreg plies with an adhesive material.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the variable thickness core compound comprises a honeycomb structure.

11 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising the step of affixing a cap to the patch after the patch is co-molded to the surface of the golf club head, wherein the cap does not completely cover the patch.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the cap comprises at least one hole.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising the step of filling the at least one hole with a thermoset or thermoplastic material.

14 . A method comprising
providing first and second pluralities of prepreg plies; providing a variable thickness core compound comprising a plurality of bundles of pre-spread carbon fibers having elongated oval cross-sections, a matrix material, and a nanoclay filler material; co-molding the variable thickness core compound with the first and second pluralities of prepreg plies to form a combination material; shaping the combination material into a patch; co-molding the patch to a surface of a golf club head; and affixing a cap to the patch so that the cap does not completely cover the patch, wherein the combination material satisfies at least one equation selected from the group consisting of

Dxx
Dyy

>

C



and

Dyy
Dxx

>
C

,

wherein D is the bending stiffness of the combination material,
wherein the bundles of pre-spread carbon fibers are randomly assorted within the matrix material, and
wherein C is at least 1 and is no more than 1.5.

Assignees

• Callaway Golf Co

Inventors

• Demille Brandon D
• Ehlers Steven M

Classifications

• A63B2209/023

  Long, oriented fibres, e.g. wound filaments, woven fabrics, mats · CPC title

• A63B53/04 Primary

  Heads · CPC title

• A63B60/00

  Details or accessories of golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like · CPC title

• A63B2209/02

  with reinforcing fibres, e.g. carbon, polyamide fibres · CPC title

• A63B2053/0425

  Human Necessities · mapped topic