Golf equipment formed from castable formulation with unconventionally low hardness and increased shear resistance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9433827-B2
Application number	US-201414539321-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 12, 2014
Priority date	Aug 30, 2007
Publication date	Sep 6, 2016
Grant date	Sep 6, 2016

Abstract

Golf equipment including compositions including castable formulations that have low material hardness and increased shear resistance. The compositions may be used in any layer of a golf ball including cores, intermediate layers, and covers and result in high spin rates.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A golf ball comprising:
a core;
an inner cover layer disposed about the core; and
an outer cover layer disposed about the inner cover layer, wherein the outer cover layer has a hardness of about 30 Shore D to about 60 Shore D and is formed from a castable material comprising:
a prepolymer formed from the reaction product of at least one isocyanate and polytetramethylene ether glycol, wherein the NCO content of the prepolymer ranges from about 5 percent to about 7 percent; and
a polyether diol having a molecular weight of about 400 to about 2500 and having the following structure:

wherein n is the chain length from 2 to 30;
wherein the castable material has a hardness of about 8 Shore D to about 16 Shore D.

2. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the composition comprises a ratio of prepolymer to polyether diol of about 1:0.95.

3. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the material hardness is about 10 Shore D to about 14 Shore D.

4. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the golf ball has a COR of about 0.810 or greater at 125 ft/s.

5. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the prepolymer has an NCO content of about 6 percent to about 6.5 percent.

6. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the difference between the flexural moduli of the inner cover layer and outer cover layer is about 5,000 psi or less.

7. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the polyether diol has a chain length n of about 7 to about 27.

8. The golf ball of claim 1 , wherein the polyether diol has a molecular weight of about 650 to about 2000.

9. A golf ball comprising:
a core; and
a cover having a hardness of about 40 Shore D to about 55 Shore D, wherein the cover is formed from a castable material comprising:
a prepolymer formed from the reaction product of at least one isocyanate-containing component and at least one isocyanate-reactive component; and
a polyether diol having a molecular weight of about 400 to about 2500 and having the following structure:

wherein n is the chain length from 2 to 30;
wherein the castable material has a hardness of about 8 Shore D to about 16 Shore D.

10. The golf ball of claim 9 , wherein the golf ball has a COR of about 0.810 or greater at 125 ft/s.

11. The golf ball of claim 9 , wherein the prepolymer comprises a reaction product of di phenyl methane diisocyanate and polytetramethylene ether glycol.

12. The golf ball of claim 9 , wherein the golf ball has an 8-iron spin rate of about 10,000 rpm or greater.

13. The golf ball of claim 9 , wherein the castable material comprises a ratio of prepolymer to polyether diol of about 1:0.95.

14. The golf ball of claim 9 , wherein the polyether diol has a chain length n of about 7 to about 27.

15. The golf ball of claim 9 , wherein the castable material has a hardness of about 8 Shore D to about 14 Shore D.

16. A golf ball comprising:
a core;
a cover; and
an intermediate layer disposed between the core and the cover,
wherein the cover has a hardness of about 40 Shore D to about 55 Shore D and is formed from a castable material comprising:
a prepolymer formed from at least one aromatic diisocyanate and at least one polyol, wherein the NCO content of the prepolymer ranges from about 5 percent to about 7 percent; and
a polyether diol having the following structure:

wherein n is the chain length from 2 to 30;
wherein the castable material has a hardness of about 8 Shore D to about 16 Shore D.

17. The golf ball of claim 16 , wherein the flexural modulus of the intermediate layer is about 2,000 psi to about 200,000 psi.

18. The golf ball of claim 16 , wherein the golf ball has a driver spin rate of about 5,000 rpm or greater.

19. The golf ball of claim 16 , wherein the polyether diol has a molecular weight of about 650 to about 2000.

20. The golf ball of claim 16 , wherein the polyether diol has a chain length n of about 7 to about 27.

Assignees

• Acushnet Co

Inventors

• Ricci Shawn
• Cavallaro Christopher

Classifications

• C08G18/3821

  Carboxylic acids; Esters thereof with monohydroxyl compounds · CPC title

• A63B37/0049

  Flexural modulus; Bending stiffness · CPC title

• A63B53/0487

  for putters (A63B53/065 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C08G18/4854

  Polyethers containing oxyalkylene groups having four carbon atoms in the alkylene group · CPC title

• C08G18/10

  Prepolymer processes involving reaction of isocyanates or isothiocyanates with compounds having active hydrogen in a first reaction step · CPC title