Golf club head with a compression-molded, thin-walled aft-body

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9808682-B2
Application number	US-201615354720-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 17, 2016
Priority date	Sep 15, 2009
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

A multiple-material golf club and a method for forming said golf club is disclosed herein. The multiple-material golf club preferably is a driver that has a metal face cup and a thin-walled, compression molded, composite aft body with precise IML and OML geometry. The molding composite used to form the compression molded aft body preferably comprises a plurality of randomly oriented, pre-spread carbon fiber bundles and a thermoset or thermoplastic matrix material.

First claim

We claim:

1. A golf club head comprising at least one part,
wherein the at least one part comprises a first molding compound,
wherein the first molding compound comprises a matrix material, a plurality of carbon fibers having a length of less than 0.25 inch, and at least one of a plurality of carbon nanotubes and a plurality of carbon graphene platelets,
wherein the carbon fibers are randomly oriented within the matrix material, and
wherein the golf club head has a coefficient of restitution of 0.81 to 0.84.

2. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of carbon nanotubes is a multi-wall carbon nanotube.

3. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein 40-70% of the volume of the first molding compound is composed of carbon fibers.

4. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the matrix material is a thermosetting material.

5. The golf club head of claim 4 , wherein the thermosetting material is selected from the group of a vinyl ester and an epoxy.

6. The golf club head of claim 1 , further comprising a second molding compound comprising a matrix material and carbon fibers having a length of at least 0.25 inch and no more than 2 inches, wherein the second molding compound is co-molded with the first molding compound to form the part.

7. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the first molding compound comprises a plurality of fiberglass fibers.

8. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the first molding compound comprises a plurality of aramid fibers.

9. A golf club head comprising at least one part,
wherein the at least one part comprises a laminate composite material and a molding compound,
wherein the molding compound comprises a matrix material, a plurality of carbon fibers having a length of at least 0.25 inch and no more than 2 inches, and at least one of a plurality of carbon nanotubes and a plurality of carbon graphene platelets,
wherein the carbon fibers are randomly oriented within the matrix material,
wherein the matrix material is selected from the group consisting of a vinyl ester and an epoxy, and
wherein the laminate composite material and the molding compound are co-molded to form the part.

10. The golf club head of claim 9 , wherein the at least one part has a wall thickness of no less than 0.020 inch and no more than 0.125 inch.

11. The golf club head of claim 9 , wherein the molding compound comprises at least one filler selected from the group consisting of nanofibers, nanotube fibers, aramid fibers, and fiberglass fibers.

12. The golf club head of claim 9 , wherein the matrix material has a specific gravity of no less than 1.0 and no more than 1.7.

13. A golf club head comprising at least one part,
wherein the at least one part comprises a laminate composite material and a molding compound,
wherein the molding compound comprises a matrix material, a plurality of carbon fibers having a length of less than 0.25 inch, and at least one of a plurality of carbon nanotubes and a plurality of carbon graphene platelets,
wherein the carbon fibers are randomly oriented within the matrix material, and
wherein the laminate composite material and the molding compound are co-molded to form the part.

14. The golf club head of claim 13 , wherein the at least one part is selected from the group consisting of a crown and a sole.

15. The golf club head of claim 13 , wherein the at least one part has a wall thickness of no less than 0.020 inch and no more than 0.125 inch.

16. The golf club head of claim 13 , wherein the molding compound comprises at least one filler selected from the group consisting of nanofibers, nanotube fibers, aramid fibers, and fiberglass fibers.

Assignees

• Callaway Golf Co

Inventors

• Demille Brandon D
• Rice Bradley C
• Ehlers Steven M

Classifications

• A63B2053/0491

  with added weights, e.g. changeable, replaceable · CPC title

• A63B53/0466 Primary

  wood-type · CPC title

• A63B2209/023

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

• A63B2209/02

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

• A63B60/00

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