Low-density high-toughness alloy and the fabrication method thereof

a high-toughness, alloy technology, applied in the field of low-density alloys, can solve the problems of poor strength of fe—mn-al alloy, large increase in the fabrication cost of golf-club heads, and poor corrosion resistance of fe—mn-al alloy, so as to improve the fluidity of liquid alloys, improve the strength of liquid alloys, and improve the plastic workability of alloys.

Inactive Publication Date: 2010-01-07
NAT CHIAO TUNG UNIV
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  • Summary
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AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0029]The present invention is to provide a low-density high-toughness alloy and the fabrication method thereof by de-waxed casting process, wherein the alloy of the present invention can obtain superior elongation, strength, damping capacity, and corrosion resistance without any heat treatment, hot working, or plastic cold working.
[0030]Another one of objectives of the present invention is to provide a low-density high-toughness alloy and the fabrication method thereof, wherein the fluidity of the liquid alloy is improved, and the castability and the plastic workability of the alloy, such as forgeability and ductility, are also promoted.
[0031]Yet another one of objectives of the present invention is to provide a low-density high-toughness alloy and the fabrication method thereof, wherein the fluidity of liquid alloy is improved, and the tiny letters, the trenches on the striking face, and thin-thickness regions of the golf-club head can be formed merely by only casting and without extra mechanical carving, and thereby, the fabrication cost and time thereof can be greatly saved.
[0032]Still another one of objectives of the present invention is to provide a low-density high-toughness alloy and the fabrication method thereof, wherein the fluidity of the liquid alloy is increased, and the interdendrite shrinkage porosity formed during the solidification process can be easily fed by the liquid alloy, which can solve the problem that the strength and ductility of the golf-club head is drastically lowered owing to the internal shrinkage porosity, and the problem that cracks are induced by the shrinkage porosity during the forging process or the rolling process; thereby, the yield thereof is greatly promoted.
[0033]Further another one of objectives of the present invention is to provide a low-density high-toughness alloy and the fabrication method thereof, wherein the alloy of the present invention not only has a density as low as 6.6˜6.9 g / cm3, but also can even obtain a superior elongation as high as 30˜60%, a superior tensile strength as high as 100˜135 ksi, superior damping capacity, and superior corrosion resistance without any heat treatment, hot working, or plastic cold working in comparison with the conventional Fe—Mn—Al—C alloys.

Problems solved by technology

Among those materials, some have superior ductility, but the strength thereof is pretty insufficient; for example, 8620 soft iron and 304 austenitic stainless steel have an elongation as high as about 50% but have a tensile strength of only about 80 ksi.
It is found: since the Fe—Mn—Al alloy has a protective high-temperature-durable aluminum-oxide layer formed on the surface, the Fe—Mn—Al alloy has better oxidation resistance at high temperature than the traditional stainless steel, and the weight gain of the Fe—Mn—Al alloy is also much less than that of the conventional stainless steel; however, in the environment of sea water or corrosive liquid, the corrosion-resistance of the Fe—Mn—Al alloy is inferior to that of the conventional stainless steel.
Further, as all the conventional Fe—Mn—Al—C alloys have high carbon contents, the golf-club heads made from those Fe—Mn—Al—C alloys must be heat-treated in a vacuum furnace to prevent serious decarburization; the forging molds, This leads to a great increase in the fabrication cost of golf-club head.
As the coexisting liquid-state metal and solid-state metal are very glutinous, the fluidity of the liquid alloy is poor, and the tiny letters of the logo, the minute U / V-section trenches of the striking face, and the thin-thickness region of the golf-club head are hard to form in the casting process but are mechanically carved otherwise; therefore, the fabrication time and cost of the golf-club head increases greatly, and the appearance design thereof is also limited by the poor castability in the thin-thickness region.
Further, owing to the poor fluidity of the liquid alloy, the interdendrite porosity caused by the physical shrinkage during solidification cannot be fed, which results in the internal shrinkage porosity of the golf-club head and then the deformation or fracture of the striking face may be occurred when the golfer is hitting golf balls.
Furthermore, the shrinkage porosity will be originators of fractures when the golf-club head is bent to adjust the loft angle between the head and the shaft or when the casting is forged.

Method used

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  • Low-density high-toughness alloy and the fabrication method thereof
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  • Low-density high-toughness alloy and the fabrication method thereof

Examples

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embodiment 1

[0063]An alloy according to the present invention consists essentially of: 26 wt. % Mn, 8.3 wt. % Al, 6.0 wt. % Cr, 0.68 wt. % C, 0.18 wt. % Si, and the balance of Fe. The alloy may be melted with a high-frequency induction furnace, and then, the molten alloy is poured into pre-heated lost-waxed shell molds of golf-club heads. As the molten alloy has superior fluidity, it can easily fill into all the mold cavities and thin-thickness regions. After the castings together with the shell molds are cooled to room temperature, they are processed with the following steps of shell-mold shaking-out, cutting gates and runners, sandblasting, grinding, welding, drilling, surface-treatment, and art-working. Even without any heat treatment, the as-cast golf-club head can still possess superior properties and has a density as low as 6.74 g / cm3, an elongation as high as 59.1%, a tensile strength as great as 108.2 ksi, and superior corrosion resistance. Thus, the fabrication cost of golf-club heads ...

embodiment 2

[0064]An alloy according to the present invention consists essentially of: 30.4 wt. % Mn, 8.8 wt. % Al, 5.1 wt. % Cr, 1.03 wt. % C, 0.24 wt. % Si, and the balance of Fe. The alloy may be melted with a high-frequency induction furnace, and then, the molten alloy is poured into pre-heated lost-waxed shell molds of golf-club heads. As the molten alloy has superior fluidity, it can easily fill all the mold cavities and thin-thickness regions. After the castings together with the shell molds are cooled to room temperature, they are processed with the following steps of shell-mold shaking-out, cutting gates and runners, sandblasting, grinding, welding, drilling, surface-treatment, and art-working. Even without any heat treatment, the as-cast golf-club head can still have superior properties and has a density as low as 6.62 / cm3, an elongation as high as 43.3%, a tensile strength as great as 124.5 ksi, and superior corrosion resistance. Thus, the fabrication cost of golf-club heads can be g...

embodiment 3

[0065]An alloy according to the present invention consists essentially of: 28 wt. % Mn, 8.8 wt. % Al, 5.1 wt. % Cr, 1.02 wt. % C, 0.21 wt. % Si, 1.0 wt. % Mo and the balance of Fe. The alloy may be melted with a high-frequency induction furnace, and then, the molten alloy is poured into pre-heated lost-waxed shell molds for golf-club heads. As the molten alloy has superior fluidity, it can easily fill all the mold cavities and thin-thickness regions. After the castings together with the shell molds are cooled to room temperature, they are processed with the following steps of shell-mold shaking-out, cutting gates and runners, sandblasting, grinding, welding, drilling, surface-treatment, and art-working. Even without any heat treatment, the as-cast golf-club head can still possess superior properties and has a density as low as 6.83 g / cm3, an elongation as high as 35.2%, a tensile strength as great as 133.1 ksi, and superior corrosion resistance. Thus, the fabrication cost of the gol...

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Abstract

The present invention discloses a low-density high-toughness alloy and the fabrication method thereof. The alloy of the present invention consists essentially of: by weight percent, equal to or greater than 23% but lower than or equal to 33% manganese, equal to or greater than 8.1% but lower than or equal to 9.8% aluminum, equal to or greater than 3% but lower than or equal to 5.0% chromium, equal to or greater than 0.6% but lower than or equal to 1.2% carbon, equal to or greater than 0.1% but lower than or equal to 0.24% silicon and the balance of iron. The golf-club head made from the abovementioned alloy can obtain superior elongation, strength, damping capacity, and corrosion resistance even without any heat treatment, or any hot / cold working, such as forging and rolling; therefore, the fabrication cost thereof can be obviously reduced.

Description

[0001]The present application is a continuation in part of U.S. application Ser. No. 11 / 509,771 titled “LOW-DENSITY HIGH-TOUGHNESS ALLOY AND THE FABRICATION METHOD THEREOF,” filed Aug. 25, 2006 and presently pending.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to a low-density alloy, particularly to a low-density alloy for use of making golf-club heads with superior elongation, strength, damping capacity, and corrosion resistance generated without any heat treatment and plastic deformation process, including hot working, and cold working.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]To provide a better ball-hitting feeling for the golfers, and to enable the golfer to hit the ball farther and more stably (i.e. longer ball-contacting time, higher ball-controlling ability, and lower vibration), many commercial materials have been applied to golf-club heads, such as 8620 soft iron, 304 austenitic stainless steel, 17-4PH precipitation-harde...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): C22C38/38C22C30/00B22D17/02C21D1/00B22D23/00B22D27/00
CPCC21D6/002C21D6/005C21D6/02C22C38/38C21D2211/004C22C38/02C22C38/06C21D8/02
InventorLIU, TZENG-FENGLEE, JIAN-WEI
OwnerNAT CHIAO TUNG UNIV