Viscoelastic Polymer Damping for Golf Club Head Acoustics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern golf clubs with thinner striking faces emit undesirable high-pitched sounds during ball strikes and require additional rigid support, which can lead to a loss of ball speed.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a viscoelastic polymer on the rear surface of the striking face, with specific elastic modulus and thickness relationships to absorb undesirable sound frequencies while maintaining ball speed, using materials like butyl rubbers and polyurethanes that absorb energy at specific frequencies without inhibiting face deflection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-generated harmful factors
If rigid support structures are attached to the striking face, then sound emission is improved, but ball speed is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from rigid to viscoelastic, which fundamentally alters the damping characteristics. The viscoelastic polymer's loss tangent (tan δ) is specifically selected to be between 0.05 and 0.50 at the fundamental frequency of face vibration, optimizing energy absorption while preserving ball speed. This parameter optimization resolves the contradiction by achieving sound improvement without the ball speed penalty associated with rigid structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite structure combining the striking face material with a viscoelastic polymer layer. This composite approach allows the polymer to provide damping benefits while the face material maintains its structural integrity and ball-speed generating properties. The composite material system achieves both sound improvement and ball speed preservation simultaneously.
2Speed
If the striking face is made thinner, then ball speed is improved, but sound emission becomes more displeasing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a new parameter - the loss tangent of the polymer material - to control sound emission characteristics. By selecting materials with specific tan δ values at relevant frequencies, the patent achieves effective damping of high-pitched sounds from thin faces without compromising the face thickness or ball speed performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The viscoelastic polymer acts as an intermediary layer between the thin striking face and the club head body. This intermediary absorbs the harmful high-frequency vibrations generated by thin faces while allowing the face to maintain its thin, high-speed characteristics. The polymer mediates between the conflicting requirements of thin face design and acceptable sound emission.
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 viscoelastic polymer reduces undesirable sound emissions and maintains ball speed by absorbing high-frequency vibrations, providing additional support and durability to the golf club head.
Implementation Method 1
a viscoelastic polymer in contact with a rear surface of the striking face. The viscoelastic polymer has a tangent of delta peak temperature between −70 degrees Celsius and −20 degrees Celsius at 1 Hz
Implementation Method 2
the viscoelastic polymer reduces undesirable sound emissions and maintains ball speed by absorbing high-frequency vibrations
Implementation Method 3
The viscoelastic polymer has a tangent of delta peak temperature between −70 degrees Celsius and −20 degrees Celsius at 1 Hz
Data Source
AI summary
A golf club head having a damping treatment, such as a viscoelastic polymer, is disclosed. The viscoelastic polymer may be in contact with the rear surface of a striking face of the golf club head. The viscoelastic polymer may have a tangent of delta peak temperature between −70 degrees Celsius and −20 degrees Celsius at a 1 Hz frequency. An elastic modulus (E), in megapascals (MPa), of the viscoelastic polymer has a relationship to a striking face thickness (t), in millimeters (mm), defined by Ê≤−14{circumflex over (t)}+305. The elastic modulus (E), in megapascals (MPa), of the viscoelastic polymer has a relationship to an effective stiffness (S) of the striking face, in gigapascals per meter (GPa/m), defined by Ê≤−1.16Ŝ+258.33. The viscoelastic polymer may cover a portion of the rear surface of the striking face or may substantially fill a cavity of the golf club head.