Golf Ball Adhesive Layer Epoxy Resin Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional golf balls with a mid layer and a cover suffer from insufficient adhesion between the layers, leading to breakage, scuffing, and loss of energy transfer when hit with a golf club, which impairs their durability and resilience performance.
Innovation Solution
A golf ball design featuring a first layer, a second layer with a different material composition, and an adhesive layer formed from a two-component curing type epoxy resin with a gel fraction of 40% to 80% to enhance adhesion between the layers, ensuring superior durability and resilience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a flexible cover is used to provide controllability, then spin performance and controllability are improved, but adhesion between the mid layer and cover becomes insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
An adhesive layer is introduced as an intermediary between the mid layer and the flexible cover. This adhesive layer specifically addresses the adhesion problem caused by using flexible cover materials, allowing the cover to maintain its flexibility for controllability while the adhesive layer provides the necessary bonding strength to prevent breakage and scuffing.
Solution Approach 2:
The golf ball employs a composite structure with different materials for the mid layer and cover, connected by a specialized adhesive layer. The cover uses flexible materials (such as thermoplastic elastomers or ionomer resins) for controllability, while the adhesive layer uses epoxy resin or polyurethane for strong adhesion, creating a composite system that achieves both flexibility and structural integrity.
2Reliability
If the adhesive layer has high gel fraction to improve adhesion, then durability is improved, but manufacturing precision becomes more difficult to control
Solution Approach 1:
The patent specifies a gel fraction range of 40% to 80% for the adhesive layer, optimizing both adhesion performance and manufacturability. This parameter range balances the need for strong adhesion (higher gel fraction) with the need for easy manufacturing and consistent quality control (not too high gel fraction). The patent further refines this by specifying epoxy equivalent and amine active hydrogen equivalent ratios to precisely control the curing process and final gel fraction.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional adhesive materials are used between mid layer and cover, then ease of manufacture is maintained, but adhesion is insufficient leading to breakage and scuffing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from conventional adhesive materials to epoxy resin or polyurethane-based adhesives with specific gel fraction parameters (40%-80%). This parameter change significantly improves adhesion strength while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through controlled curing processes. The specification of epoxy equivalent and amine active hydrogen equivalent ratios provides clear manufacturing guidelines.
Solution Approach 2:
The adhesive layer uses composite chemistry combining epoxy resin or polyurethane with specific curing agents (polyamine compounds). This composite material approach provides superior adhesion strength compared to conventional single-material adhesives, preventing breakage and scuffing while remaining manufacturable through standard two-component mixing and curing processes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The adhesive layer significantly improves the adhesion between the first and second layers, preventing breakage, scuffing, and maintaining energy transfer, resulting in a golf ball with enhanced durability and resilience performance.
Implementation Method 1
an adhesive layer formed from an adhesive and positioned between the first layer and the second layer. A base polymer of the adhesive is a two-component curing type epoxy resin obtained by curing a bisphenol A type epoxy resin with a curing agent including a polyamine compound
Data Source
AI summary
A golf ball 2 includes a spherical core 4, an adhesive layer 6 covering the core 4, and a cover 8 covering the adhesive layer 6. The core 4 includes a spherical center 10 and a mid layer 12 covering the center 10. The adhesive layer 6 is formed from an adhesive. The base polymer of the adhesive is a two-component curing type epoxy resin obtained by curing a bisphenol A type epoxy resin with a curing agent including a polyamine compound. The gel fraction of the adhesive is equal to or greater than 40% but equal to or less than 80%. The ratio of the epoxy equivalent to the amine active hydrogen equivalent in the adhesive is equal to or greater than 2.0/1.0 but equal to or less than 13.0/1.0. The amine active hydrogen equivalent of the curing agent is equal to or greater than 100 g/eq but equal to or less than 800 g/eq. In the adhesive, the proportion of water to the entire volatile component is equal to or greater than 90% by weight.