Thermoplastic Composite Golf Club Heads for Mass Distribution Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current golf club heads with metallic structural mass lack design control over mass distribution, limiting the customization of club performance and forgiveness, as they struggle to maximize discretionary weight for optimizing moment of inertia and center of gravity.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating injection molded thermoplastic composite materials with oriented discontinuous fibers in the club head face and body to reduce structural mass while allowing strategic placement of discretionary mass, enhancing the moment of inertia and altering the center of gravity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If metallic materials are used for structural mass in club heads, then structural resilience is maintained, but design control over mass distribution is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs composite materials consisting of a thermoplastic matrix combined with discrete reinforcement elements (such as fibers or particles) to create club head structures that provide both required structural resilience and enhanced design flexibility for mass distribution. The composite structure allows engineers to strategically place reinforcement elements to optimize moment of inertia and center of gravity while maintaining structural integrity.
2Weight of moving object
If structural mass is minimized in club heads, then discretionary mass for performance customization is increased, but structural resilience may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by concentrating reinforcement elements in specific regions of the club head where structural support is most needed, rather than uniformly distributing material throughout the entire structure. This allows minimal structural mass to be used while maintaining resilience at critical locations, freeing up mass for performance customization in other areas.
Solution Approach 2:
Composite materials enable the creation of lightweight yet resilient structures by combining a lightweight thermoplastic matrix with strategically placed reinforcement elements. This allows the club head to achieve minimal overall mass while maintaining structural resilience through the localized reinforcement provided by the composite structure.
3Weight of moving object
If thermoplastic composite materials are used, then weight savings and design flexibility are achieved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates reinforcement elements into the thermoplastic matrix during the molding process itself, rather than adding them separately after manufacturing. This preliminary integration of reinforcement elements simplifies the overall manufacturing process by combining material preparation and structural reinforcement into a single molding operation, reducing the number of separate manufacturing steps required.
Data Source
AI summary
A golf club head includes a front body and a rear body coupled to the front body to define a hollow cavity therebetween. The front body includes a strike face that defines a ball striking surface, a hosel, and a frame that at least partially surrounds the strikeface and extends rearward from a perimeter of the strikeface away from the ball striking surface. The strike face and frame are formed from a thermoplastic composite comprising a thermoplastic polymer having a plurality of discontinuous fibers embedded therein. Each of the plurality of discontinuous fibers have a length between about 0.01 mm and 3 mm. In some embodiments, the thermoplastic composite is 30% to 70% fibers by volume.