Golf Ball Foamed Core via Organic Peroxide Decomposition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing golf ball technologies face challenges in creating a foamed core that improves distance performance and feel at impact without reducing resilience, as foaming resin materials lower resilience and two-layer core constructions increase production costs and face difficulties in proper gas expansion during manufacturing.
Innovation Solution
A golf ball core is formed using a rubber composition with a base rubber, co-crosslinking agent, and organic peroxide, where a gas generated by thermal decomposition of the organic peroxide creates a foamed region, allowing for controlled foaming and reduced spin rate while maintaining resilience by positioning the foamed region strategically within the core.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a resin material is foamed to control the moment of inertia, then the moment of inertia is controlled, but the resilience is greatly reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from resin to rubber composition, and controls the foaming degree parameter to create a foamed region with specific characteristics. By adjusting the organic peroxide content and decomposition conditions, the patent achieves moment of inertia control while maintaining rubber's inherent resilience, resolving the contradiction between moment of inertia control and resilience preservation.
2Ease of manufacture
If a two-layer core construction is used with a center core containing a blowing agent, then foaming can occur, but the production costs increase and foaming cannot be carried out only in a target range
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the foaming function from a separate blowing agent component and integrates it directly into the rubber composition through organic peroxide. This eliminates the need for a separate center core with blowing agent, simplifying the core construction to a single layer while enabling precise control of foaming to occur only in the target intermediate region during curing.
Solution Approach 2:
The organic peroxide is pre-mixed into the rubber composition before molding, but the actual foaming action is triggered only during the curing process when temperature and pressure conditions are right. This preliminary preparation allows foaming to occur automatically in the target range without requiring complex two-layer construction or separate blowing agent chambers.
3Strength
If compressible gaseous material or thermally expandable microcapsules are dispersed in the core, then distance performance may be improved, but the gas material collapses or does not properly expand due to pressure during rubber curing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the foaming mechanism from using pre-dispersed gas materials or microcapsules to using organic peroxide that decomposes thermally during curing. This parameter change in the foaming mechanism allows controlled expansion to occur only when temperature and pressure conditions are appropriate, preventing collapse while ensuring reliable foaming in the target region.
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 solution enables a golf ball with a foamed core that deforms at impact, reducing spin rate and minimizing resilience loss, while being efficiently produced without the drawbacks of previous methods, such as collapsed or improperly expanded foaming agents.
Implementation Method 1
a gas generated by thermal decomposition of an organic peroxide creates a foamed region
Implementation Method 2
the foamed portion of the core deforms to a certain degree at the time of impact and is thus able to decrease the radius of gyration of the golf ball
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides a golf ball having a core and a cover of one or more layer encasing the core, wherein the core is formed of a rubber composition that includes a base rubber, a co-crosslinking agent and an organic peroxide. The core has a center portion and a surface portion that are unfoamed regions, and has an intermediate portion that contains a foamed region. A method of manufacturing such a golf ball is also provided.