Multi-Material Golf Club Head Face with Chip Insert
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current golf club designs fail to effectively increase the size of the sweet spot without adding undesirable weight, despite advancements in materials and structures aimed at improving distance and straightness of golf shots.
Innovation Solution
A golf club head with a striking face portion composed of multiple materials, featuring a first outer layer, a second backing layer, and a chip insert made of a higher modulus material, where the layers form a cavity near the geometric center, utilizing advanced bonding techniques like diffusion bonding, liquid interface diffusion, or super plastic forming to enhance bond strength and sweet spot size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a larger club head is used to increase moment of inertia and keep shots straight, then flight path stability is improved, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The club head is divided into multiple sections with different materials: a titanium alloy body for overall structure, a stainless steel insert at the striking face for localized strength and sweet spot enhancement, and a tungsten weight at the rear for moment of inertia control. This segmentation allows each material to perform its specific function without adding unnecessary weight throughout the entire club head.
Solution Approach 2:
Different materials are applied to different locations of the club head based on functional requirements. The titanium alloy provides lightweight structure, the stainless steel insert provides localized strength at the striking face, and the tungsten weight provides concentrated mass at the rear. This local quality approach optimizes weight distribution and moment of inertia without uniformly increasing club head weight.
2Speed
If the striking face is made thinner to increase coefficient of restitution and distance, then ball rebound is improved, but structural strength decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The striking face combines titanium alloy with a stainless steel insert. The titanium alloy allows for a thinner overall face design that increases coefficient of restitution, while the stainless steel insert provides localized strength reinforcement at the striking surface. This composite material approach enables both thin face construction for improved rebound and sufficient structural strength.
3Manufacturing precision
If a multi-material construction is used to increase sweet spot size, then shot accuracy is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The multi-material construction is divided into distinct segments (titanium alloy body, stainless steel insert, tungsten weight) that can be manufactured separately and then assembled. This segmentation reduces manufacturing complexity compared to creating a single complex multi-material component, while still achieving the desired sweet spot enhancement through the strategic placement of different materials.
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 multi-material construction significantly increases the size of the sweet spot while maintaining minimal weight, improving the overall performance of the golf club by allowing the central portion of the club head to move as a single unit, enhancing control and accuracy in golf shots.
Implementation Method 1
the secondary material has a higher modulus than the remainder of the striking face
Implementation Method 2
The striking face portion, due to the unique construction, may generally be formed together using diffusion bonding
Implementation Method 3
liquid interface diffusion
Implementation Method 4
super plastic forming techniques
Data Source
AI summary
A metal wood golf club with a striking face portion made from more than one material is disclosed. More specifically, due to the unique construction of the striking face portion having multiple materials, the present invention utilizes diffusion bonding, liquid interface diffusion, or even super plastic forming techniques to achieve the desirable bond between the more than one material used to form the striking face. The striking face portion is formed by adding a chip insert made from a secondary material that is different from the remainder of the striking face portion substantially near a geometric center of the striking face portion; wherein the secondary material has a higher Young's modulus than the remainder of the striking face portion.