Stainless Steel Golf Club Head With Localized Hardness Tuning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Golf club designs face trade-offs between properties such as forgiveness, feel, adjustability, and wear resistance due to the use of conventional materials that do not adequately match the structural requirements of club heads, leading to increased complexity and manufacturing issues.
Innovation Solution
A golf club head composed of a unitary stainless steel component with varying hardness levels, achieved through a tailored composition and heat treatment processes, allowing for a hard striking face and malleable hosel portion, minimizing the need for multiple materials and reducing manufacturing complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If conventional materials with high hardness and high yield strength are used, then wear resistance is improved, but malleability and adjustability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different heat treatment processes to different regions of the club head to create localized hardness variations. The striking face undergoes hardening to achieve high wear resistance, while the hosel and other adjustment regions are kept softer to maintain malleability for loft and lie adjustments. This spatial differentiation of material properties resolves the contradiction between wear resistance and adjustability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the hardness parameter selectively across different regions of the club head through controlled heat treatment. By varying temperature, time, and cooling rates in different zones, the material transitions from a uniform state to a differentiated state where the striking face achieves high hardness (improving wear resistance) while the hosel maintains lower hardness (preserving adjustability).
2Reliability
If multiple materials are used to match properties with structural function, then performance is improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple material functions into a single homogeneous material by using selective heat treatment on a uniform club head material. Instead of assembling multiple materials with different properties, the invention treats one material differently in different regions to achieve the same functional differentiation, thereby reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter changes (heat treatment) to create functional differentiation from a uniform material base. This approach achieves the performance benefits of multi-material construction without the complexity of assembling different materials, as the same material is transformed into different functional states through controlled thermal processing.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If the striking face is hardened to improve wear resistance, then durability is improved, but the overall malleability of the club head deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies hardening treatment specifically to the striking face region while leaving other regions like the hosel relatively soft. This localized quality change ensures that durability is improved where needed (striking face) without compromising malleability where adjustability is needed (hosel), resolving the contradiction between these two properties.
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 provides enhanced performance by maintaining desirable feel and acoustics while allowing for adjustability and improved wear resistance, reducing manufacturing costs and tolerances, and optimizing material properties for specific club head functions.
Implementation Method 1
achieved through a tailored composition and heat treatment processes
Implementation Method 2
selectively surface hardening the component such that a first portion of the component exhibits a first hardness H1 no less than 50 HRC
Data Source
AI summary
A golf club head has a loft no less than 38°. The golf club head also comprises a material having a material composition that includes an Iron content that by weight is highest of all constituents. The material composition also has a Chromium content no less than 10.5% by weight and a Nickel content no greater than 0.5% by weight.