JPS6099275A - Iron head for golf club and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] and its manufacturing method.

Traditionally, iron heads for golf clubs (hereinafter abbreviated as iron heads) have often been made of soft iron or stainless steel, but in the case of the former, it is common to use hard chrome coating, while in the case of the latter. It was common for products to be finished by puff polishing.

However, with these conventional methods, it has been almost impossible to change the surface characteristics (surface hardness, coefficient of restitution, resistance) and properties (purity, coefficient of friction, etc.) of the iron head itself.

Another drawback is that when hitting a ball with a two-piece pole with a high surface hardness that has recently appeared on the market, the feel does not match. Therefore, Jikko Its 3 6th year - 3114
・There is an iron head made of injection metal (Mecricon) that can spray molten metal onto the face, which is already known in No. 5, but with such injection metal (Mecricon),
In general, the melt A of metal particles is weak and there is a lot of porosity between metal particles, so when a ball with a high surface hardness like a two-piece pole is repeatedly hit, it is easily worn away by sand, pebbles, etc. The metal base was exposed and the jetted metal was chipped or fell off, causing problems with durability.

For this reason, as in Japanese Patent Publication No. 34537 of 1982, "a golf ball made of a laminated structure of a porous metal layer 5, a porous ceramic layer 6, and a highly elastic resin layer 7 is coated on the soft iron or stainless steel base of the iron head". ``Resin-coated iron head for clubs'' is already well known. However, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, these conventional products have a three-layer structure, so the coating layer itself tends to be too thick, so as shown in FIG. , a large step was created at the boundary between the base surface 8 and the thermally sprayed coating layer 9 of the iron head, and when the ball was hit at this boundary, the direction of the ball's flight became unstable. . In addition, in the case of conventional iron heads, as shown in Fig. 5, metal or ceramics are thermally sprayed and coated with synthetic resin, but both the metal particles 1O and the ceramic particles 10' are partially fused. Since the spray coating is only
The surface of JW9 is uneven, and since it is covered with synthetic resin, the uneven parts may chip or fall off due to repeated impact stress when hitting the ball, and the bonds between particles are weak, causing bending stress and The thermal spray coating N9 easily peeled off from the substrate surface due to impact stress, and the chippings tended to fall off from the peeled portions and the chippings gradually expanded, resulting in a lack of durability.

In addition, in the case of conventional iron heads, the outermost layer is coated with synthetic resin, which reduces the coefficient of restitution and surface hardness of the face surface, resulting in a reduction in flight distance even when hitting a ball with a high surface hardness such as a two-piece ball. In addition to not improving the performance, there were other drawbacks such as the sound of the ball being hit was dull.

In view of these conventional drawbacks, the present invention has been made to provide a durable iron head that increases the coefficient of restitution of the iron head, improves the flight distance of the ball, and improves the stability of the flight direction. .

To explain the present invention based on the drawings, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, the surface of the iron head 11 is coated with gold paper, alloy, ceramics, or other thermal spray material 13 reinforced with whiskers 12 by plasma spraying or other means. An iron head and its manufacturing method are characterized in that a whisker-strengthening thermal spray coating layer 1-4 is formed on the surface of the iron head by thermally spraying the iron head using the thermal spraying method described above as appropriate.

As described above, in the present invention, an iron head made of, for example, stainless steel, an aluminum bronze alloy, soft iron plated with nickel and chrome, or other materials is appropriately selected, and the whisker 12 is made of, for example, silicon nitride. Ceramic thread whiskers such as whiskers, alumina whiskers, beryllia whiskers, boron carbide whiskers, silicon carbide whiskers, and graphite whiskers; metal whiskers such as copper whiskers, iron whiskers, nickel whiskers, and chromium whiskers; and other whiskers made of grains. A whisker-strengthening thermal spray coating NL to the surface of the iron head is applied by selecting the appropriate material as necessary and strengthening the mixture with the thermal spray material 13 such as metal, alloy, or ceramic, and using a method such as plasma spraying, low-kite thermal spraying, or spheroid thermal spraying. The present invention provides an iron head that forms a . As an example of the present invention, a stainless steel iron head is used, and after sandblasting and other surface treatments as appropriate, a thermal spraying material containing 3 to 20 weight percent of silicon nitride whiskers in tungsten carbide/cobalt is applied to the iron head using a plasma spraying method. An iron head having a silicon nitride whisker-reinforced tungsten carbide/cobalt sprayed coating layer formed on the surface by thermal spraying is obtained.

In this way, when a silicon nitride whisker-reinforced tungsten-cobalt thermal spray coating layer is formed, the following effects are achieved compared to Iron Head G, which has a conventional thermal spray coating layer that does not contain whisker reinforcement. It is something. In other words, in conventional methods, thermal sprayed materials such as metals, alloys, and ceramics are used alone, and the particles of each material form a thermally sprayed coating layer in a fused layer-like state. There are voids between the materials, and as a result, they have the disadvantage of being brittle and easily chipping when subjected to compression or impact stress, or peeling at the interface with the base material, but as shown in Figure 8. By reinforcing the blend of Whiskers 12, the whiskers are dispersed and oriented between particles, which significantly improves the strength between the particles, and is sufficient to withstand compressive stress and impact stress generated on the face surface when hitting a ball. It exhibits strength, prevents chipping and peeling from the base material, and has the effect of significantly improving durability. Furthermore, if the whiskers 12 are blended as in the present invention, sufficient durability can be achieved even if the thickness of the sprayed coating layer 14 is reduced, so as shown in FIG. Because the step d at the boundary becomes small, even if the ball is hit at this step, the direction of the ball's flight will be unstable, unlike conventional ball sprayed coatings with a three-layer structure with a large step. There will be no more. In addition, in the present invention, depending on the combination of the whiskers 12 and the thermal spraying material 18 used, color irregularities due to the orientation of the whiskers may appear on the surface of the thermal sprayed film). Either change the whisker composition, or form a sprayed coating without whiskers on top of the whisker-reinforced thermal sprayed coating as shown in Figure 9, or add whisker-reinforced thermal sprayed coating as shown in Figure 10. Thermal spray material can be used to cover unevenly colored materials. Furthermore, in the present invention, whiskers are added to the sprayed material to strengthen it, so that the repulsion characteristics and surface hardness are improved, and the flight distance of the ball is further improved. As described above, the iron head according to the present invention has effects not found in conventional iron heads.

The combination of whiskers and thermal spraying material according to the present invention is as follows:
It can be done freely, but silicon nitride whiskers or silicon carbide whiskers can be mixed with nickel oxide, alumina, tungsten carbide, cobalt, etc.
Weight) By incorporating the powder, the practical effect can be fully exhibited. In addition, by polishing the surface of the whisker-reinforced thermal spray coating, the paint on the golf ball surface is not worn away, and the golf ball paint does not adhere to the face, which maintains the beauty of the face. , the spin applied to the ball is optimized, resulting in effects such as an increase in carries and runs. Note that the low-kite thermal spraying and the spherical cord thermal spraying referred to in the present invention are most suitable when the thermal spraying material is ceramic-based.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional iron head. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a conventional plasma spray iron head. 3 and 4 are enlarged sectional views of main parts of a conventional plasma spray iron head. FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of part A in FIG. 4. Figures 6 and 7
The figure is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of an iron head according to the present invention. FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view of part B in FIG. 7. Figure 9, 1st
FIG. 0 is an enlarged sectional view of main parts showing another embodiment of the iron head according to the present invention. 1... Iron head, 2-je iron head, 3
...Plasma sprayed coating layer 14 degrees. head base, 5... porous metal layer, 6...; Porous Ceramic J:? i, 7... Highly elastic resin layer,
811...Iron head base surface, 911...Thermal spray coating layer, 10; 10'...Particles, 11...Iron head, 12--Whisker, 13--Thermal spray material, L"
7. and''...whisker-reinforced thermal spray coating layer, 15...
Sprayed coating layer. Applicant for a Chamberlain License Figure 7 Figure 7

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An iron head for a golf club, characterized in that a whisker-reinforcing thermal sprayed film layer is formed on the surface of the iron head. (2) A whisker-enhanced thermal spray coating layer is formed on the surface of the iron head by spraying metal, alloy, ceramic, or other thermal spray material reinforced with whiskers using plasma spraying or other thermal spraying methods as appropriate. A method for manufacturing an iron head for a golf club, which comprises forming the iron head on the surface of the iron head.