Golf Ball Cover Material Soft Feel Rebound Resilience
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Golf balls struggle to achieve a balance between soft feel and high rebound resilience, as materials with high SEBS content compromise rebound, while highly neutralized ionomer resins fail to provide a sufficiently soft feel.
Innovation Solution
A multi-component copolymer with conjugated diene units, non-conjugated olefin units, and aromatic vinyl units, specifically including butadiene, ethylene, and styrene units, is used as the base resin, ensuring a content of 5 wt% or more conjugated diene units to maintain low hardness while achieving high rebound resilience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a large amount of SEBS is added to an ionomer resin, then a soft feel is imparted, but the rebound is lowered
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the chemical composition parameters of the base resin by incorporating conjugated diene units (5-60 mass%) into the copolymer structure. This chemical parameter change allows the material to achieve both softness and high rebound resilience simultaneously, resolving the contradiction between soft feel and rebound performance that plagues conventional SEBS-ionomer blends.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a composite material system by combining multiple polymer components with specific functional units: conjugated diene units for elasticity and softness, olefin units for structural integrity, and aromatic vinyl units for binding capability. This multi-component composite approach enables the material to exhibit both soft feel and high rebound, overcoming the limitations of single-material systems.
2Reliability
If the acid in an ionomer resin composition is completely neutralized by adding a fatty acid, then a high rebound is achieved, but a sufficiently soft feel is not achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The invention modifies the base resin composition by incorporating conjugated diene units and controlling the neutralization degree (5-80 mass% metal salt content). This dual parameter adjustment allows the material to achieve high rebound resilience while maintaining softness, resolving the contradiction that prevents fully neutralized ionomer resins from providing sufficient soft feel.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs a composite material strategy by integrating conjugated diene-containing copolymer with metal salt components. The synergistic interaction between the elastic conjugated diene units and the metal-coordinated carboxylate groups creates a material that simultaneously delivers high rebound and soft feel, overcoming the limitations of conventional highly neutralized ionomer resins.
Data Source
AI summary
A golf ball material contains(I) a multi-component copolymer having conjugated diene units, non-conjugated olefin units and aromatic vinyl units; and(II) a binary copolymer of an olefin and an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid of 3 to 8 carbons and/or a ternary copolymer of an olefin, an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid of 3 to 8 carbons and an ester of the α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid, or a metal neutralization product thereof.The conjugated diene units include butadiene units, the non-conjugated olefin units include units selected from the group consisting of ethylene, propylene and 1-butene units, and the aromatic vinyl units include styrene units. The content of the conjugated diene units in the multi-component copolymer (I) is 5 wt % or more. This golf ball material is soft and has an excellent rebound resilience. Golf balls which use this material in the cover provide golfers with a competitive edge.