Multi-material Golf Club Head Face with Composite Pocket
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current golf club designs face challenges in creating a striking face that saves weight, improves Coefficient of Restitution (COR), and endures high stress levels without sacrificing sound and feel, while existing solutions either compromise on durability or alter the acoustic properties.
Innovation Solution
A golf club head with a striking face featuring a perimeter made of a high-density material and a central pocket filled with a lower-density material, such as aluminum or composite, which is designed to maintain the sound and feel characteristics of a metallic striking face while reducing weight and enhancing durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a thinner striking face is used to improve COR and reduce weight, then the Coefficient of Restitution and weight savings are improved, but the durability and ability to endure high stress levels deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The striking face is constructed as a composite structure with a metallic outer layer (titanium or stainless steel) providing durability and stress resistance, and a composite inner layer (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) providing lightweight properties and COR enhancement. This composite construction allows the face to achieve high COR values while maintaining the strength and durability needed to endure repeated high-stress impacts.
Solution Approach 2:
The striking face employs different materials and thicknesses at different locations: the peripheral portion uses a thicker metallic construction for structural integrity and stress distribution, while the central impact area uses a thinner composite construction to maximize COR and weight savings. This localized differentiation allows the face to optimize performance in each region while maintaining overall durability.
2Weight of moving object
If weight is removed from the striking face to improve COR and distance, then weight savings and COR are improved, but the structural integrity and stress resistance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The striking face utilizes a composite construction with a metallic outer layer providing structural integrity and stress resistance, and a composite inner layer providing lightweight properties. This composite structure achieves significant weight reduction compared to traditional solid metal faces while maintaining the strength and structural integrity needed to withstand high-impact stresses during golf ball strikes.
Solution Approach 2:
The striking face employs different materials and thicknesses at different locations: the peripheral portion uses a thicker metallic construction for structural integrity and stress distribution, while the central impact area uses a thinner composite construction to maximize weight savings. This localized differentiation allows the face to optimize both weight reduction and structural integrity in their respective regions.
3Weight of moving object
If a non-metallic material is used to reduce weight and improve COR, then weight savings and COR are improved, but the sound and feel characteristics deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The striking face is constructed as a composite structure with a metallic outer layer (titanium or stainless steel) that provides desirable sound and feel characteristics upon impact, and a composite inner layer (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) that provides lightweight properties and COR enhancement. The metallic outer layer acts as a soundboard that transmits pleasant acoustic signals to the golfer while the composite core provides the weight and COR benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The striking face employs different materials at different locations: the peripheral portion uses metallic material to provide structural support and sound transmission, while the central impact area uses composite material to maximize weight savings and COR. This localized material selection allows the face to optimize both acoustic properties and performance characteristics.
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 achieves weight savings, improved COR, and increased durability while maintaining desirable sound and feel, allowing for greater distance and straighter shots without compromising the golf club's performance.
Implementation Method 1
the pocket at the frontal portion of the striking face may be filled with a material having a different density than the material used to form the remainder of the striking face. The multi-material striking face in accordance with the present invention may utilize a lighter second material having a second density to fill in the pocket created by the striking face, while the remainder of the striking face utilizes a heavier first material that has a first density.
Implementation Method 2
Effectively transferring the energy generated by the golfer onto a golf ball in order to hit a golf ball further may be largely related to the Coefficient of Restitution (COR) between the golf club and the golf ball. U.S. Pat. No. 7,281,994 to De Shiell et al. provides one good example that explains this COR concept by discussing how a golf club head utilizing a thinner striking face may deflect more when impacting a golf ball to result in a higher COR; which results in greater travel distance.
Implementation Method 3
U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,895 to Igarashi goes into more detail on this concept by discussing the advantages of creating a golf club with a higher Moment of Inertia (MOI), which is a way to quantify the ability of a golf club to resist rotational twisting when it strikes a golf ball at a location that is offset from the geometric center of the golf club head.
Data Source
AI summary
A golf club with a multi-material face is disclosed herein. More specifically, the golf club head in accordance with the present invention has a striking face that forms a pocket, wherein the pocket is filled with a secondary material having a lower density to improve the performance of the golf club head. The multi-material face disclosed in accordance with the present invention may generally have a characteristic time slope of greater than about 5 and less than about 50, wherein the characteristic time slope is determined based on the various data points collected according to the United States Golf Association's (USGA's) Characteristic Time (CT) test.