JP2003245383A - Manufacturing method for golf club heads and golf club heads - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method for golf club heads which enables efficient manufacture of golf club heads each with high impact resilience and high durability, and golf club heads obtained by the manufacturing method. <P>SOLUTION: For manufacturing the golf club head 10 having a hollow structure with a face 1 made of β titanium alloy, the face 1 heat-treated in advance and a body 2 are joined by laser or plasma welding. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a golf club head having a hollow structure and a golf club head obtained by the method, and more specifically,
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a golf club head and a golf club head that enable efficient manufacture of a golf club head having high resilience and high durability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, golf club head constituent materials,
In particular, β-type titanium alloy is used as a constituent material of the face member. In a golf club head using a β-type titanium alloy, in order to improve characteristics such as resilience and durability,
Usually, heat treatment such as solution treatment and aging treatment is performed.
Such heat treatment is generally performed after the face member is welded to the body to form the golf club head in consideration of the influence of heat generated by welding during head assembly.

However, since the volume of the golf club head in the assembled state is large, the amount of processing per kettle in the heating furnace is small, which leads to an increase in cost at the time of manufacturing the golf club head. It is also possible to form a golf club head by heat-treating the member before assembly and then welding the member, but in this case, the heat of welding partially changes the structure of the β-type titanium alloy. There is a problem that it causes transformation and destroys the characteristics obtained by the heat treatment.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a golf club head manufacturing method capable of efficiently manufacturing a golf club head having high resilience and high durability, and a golf obtained by the manufacturing method. To provide a club head.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a method of manufacturing a golf club head according to the present invention has a hollow structure in which a face member and a body which have been previously heat treated are joined by laser welding or plasma welding. A golf club head is formed.

In the present invention, since the face member is heat-treated by itself, the amount of processing per kettle in the heating furnace can be remarkably increased and the manufacturing cost of the golf club head can be reduced. Moreover, by adopting laser welding or plasma welding for joining the face member and the body, the influence of heat on the parts other than the welded part is suppressed as much as possible, so that the characteristics imparted to the face member by the heat treatment are not impaired. . Therefore, according to the method for manufacturing a golf club head of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently obtain a golf club head having high resilience and high durability.

In the present invention, the face member is made of Ti-15V.
A remarkable effect is obtained when it is composed of a β-type titanium alloy represented by -6Cr-4Al. That is, since the characteristics of the β-type titanium alloy largely depend on the heat treatment, the above manufacturing method can reduce the manufacturing cost of the golf club head while maintaining the characteristics of the β-type titanium alloy improved by the heat treatment. . As the heat treatment, it is preferable to perform an aging treatment at a temperature of 450 ° C. or higher and a holding time of 6 hours or longer. By performing such an aging treatment, the tensile strength, drawing, hardness, etc. of the face member made of β-type titanium alloy can be arbitrarily adjusted. Of course, as heat treatment, solution treatment or the like may be performed in addition to the aging treatment described above. The body to which the heat-treated face member is welded may be made of cast material or pressed material.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The structure of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a method of manufacturing a golf club head according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, in the present invention, a face member 1 that has been previously heat treated is used.
And the body 2 are joined together to form a golf club head 10 having a hollow structure.

FIG. 2 shows a method of manufacturing a golf club head according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the body 2 and the neck portion 3 are integrated, but in the embodiment of FIG. 2, the face member 1 is used.
The one that is integrated with the neck portion 3 is used. As described above, the face member 1 may be a face neck integrated material.

The face member 1 is subjected to a heat treatment step after being processed into a predetermined shape by forging, casting, pressing or the like. On the other hand, the body 2 is processed into a predetermined shape by casting or pressing. For example, the body 2 may be integrally cast, or a part of the body 2 that corresponds to the crown portion or the sole portion may be divided into a plurality of parts, and each part may be cast or pressed and then these parts may be welded. good.

The face member 1 is made of β-type titanium alloy exhibiting high resilience and high durability by heat treatment. As this β-type titanium alloy, for example, Ti-15
V-6Cr-4Al, Ti-15V-3Cr-3Al-
3Sn, Ti-15Mo-5Zr-3Al, Ti-13
V-11Cr-3Al, Ti-8Mo-8V-2Fe-
3Al, Ti-3Al-8V-6Cr-4Mo-4Z
r, Ti-11.5Mo-6Zr-4.5Sn, Ti-
15Mo-5Zr and the like, particularly Ti-1
5V-6Cr-4Al is preferred.

In the above alloy, the numerical value given to the elements other than Ti is the weight% in the titanium alloy. That is, Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al has vanadium: about 15% by weight, chromium: about 6% by weight, aluminum: about 4%.
It means a titanium alloy containing wt%. Further, the above numerical values mean typical values, and the weight% may be varied within a range of ± 5% of the typical values. That is, Ti-15V
-6Cr-4Al is vanadium: 14.25-15.
It includes a titanium alloy containing 75% by weight, chromium: 5.7 to 6.3% by weight, aluminum: 3.8 to 4.2% by weight, and inevitable impurities, with the balance being titanium.

The characteristics of the above-mentioned β-titanium alloy largely depend on the heat treatment. For example, a temperature of 450 to 550 ° C,
Aging treatment with a holding time of 6 to 72 hours (preferably 500 ° C
By carrying out × 8h), good characteristics as a golf club head will be exhibited.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the aging temperature and the tensile strength of Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al. As shown in FIG. 3, Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al
Has a tendency that the tensile strength changes depending on the aging temperature, and the longer the holding time, the greater the tensile strength.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the aging temperature and the drawing of Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al. As shown in FIG. 4, in Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al, the tensile strength changes according to the aging temperature, the shorter the holding time on the low temperature side, the larger the drawing, and the longer the holding time on the high temperature side. The aperture tends to be large. The larger this aperture is, the more difficult it is to break.

FIG. 5 shows the relationship between aging treatment time and hardness for Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al. As shown in FIG. 5, the hardness of Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al changes depending on the aging treatment time, and the change depends on the aging treatment temperature.

As can be seen from FIGS. 3 to 5, the physical properties of the β-titanium alloy can be arbitrarily selected based on the aging treatment conditions. For example, Ti-15V-6Cr-4
In order to make the most of the tensile strength of Al, it is necessary to perform heat treatment at a heating temperature of approximately 450 ° C and a holding time of approximately 72 hours. The optimal heat treatment conditions for a golf club are drawing and pulling. Balanced strength 500
It is approximately 8 ° C. × 8 hours.

When the heat treatment is performed after the golf club head 10 is formed, even if the pot has a volume of 1 m ³ , only 1000 pieces can be processed in one heat treatment step, which is practical in terms of cost. Low, face member 1
If the heat treatment is performed in this state, about 10 times the heat treatment can be performed.

On the other hand, by using laser welding or plasma welding for welding the face member 1 and the body 2, it is possible to suppress the influence of heat on portions other than the welded portion as much as possible. That is, when the face member 1 and the body 2 are joined by general TIG welding, the width of the welding bead becomes wide and the temperature rises in a wider range of the face member 1. The obtained characteristics may be significantly impaired. However, laser welding or plasma welding can maintain the characteristics imparted to the face member 1 by heat treatment. As a result, the strength and toughness of the golf club head 10 can be improved in a balanced manner, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Laser welding is welding performed by applying a laser beam and using the light energy thereof, such as CO ₂ laser beam welding and YAG laser beam welding. It is desirable to select 300 to 1000 W (watt) as the condition for laser welding.

Plasma welding is welding performed by heat of plasma arc. Plasma arc welding performed by using transfer arc and plasma jet welding performed by generating high temperature and high speed air flow by non-transfer arc. There is. The conditions for plasma welding are 2
It is desirable to select 0 to 200 A (ampere).

[0023]

EXAMPLES Golf club heads having a hollow structure having a volume of 350 cc, a loft angle of 10.5 ° and a face thickness of 2.6 mm were manufactured by the manufacturing methods of the following Examples 1-2 and Comparative Examples 1-4. A score line having a depth of 0.3 mm and a width of 0.7 mm was engraved on the face surface of the golf club head.

Example 1: Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al
A face member processed from a rolled material (DAT55G manufactured by Daido Steel Co., Ltd.) was vacuum heat treated. This heat treatment was performed under the conditions of a heating temperature of 500 ° C. and a holding time of 8 hours. The face member is approximately 90 mm wide and 50 m long
m, thickness 2.7 mm, almost oval shape, radius of curvature 1
A 0 inch roll and bulge was applied. Such a face member is 1000 mm × 1000 mm × 1000 m even if it is placed in a heat treatment furnace with a space of 10 mm or more.
The furnace of m can accommodate more than 9,000 at the same time. The heat-treated face member was laser-welded to a body having a face opening produced by casting, and was abraded in a usual process to obtain a golf club head.

Example 2 A golf club head was manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1 except that plasma welding was used to weld the face member and the body.

Comparative Example 1: Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al
The face member processed from the rolled material of No. 1 was laser-welded to the body of the face opening produced by casting, and after being abraded in the usual process, this golf club head was heat-treated under the same conditions as in Example 1. Such a golf club head has a size of 1000 mm × 1000 mm × 1000 when placed in a heat treatment furnace with a space of 10 mm or more.
Less than 1000 can be accommodated in the mm furnace at the same time.

Comparative Example 2: Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al
The face member processed from the rolled material of No. 1 was laser-welded to the body of the face opening produced by casting, and after being polished in the usual process, the golf club head was directly subjected to no heat treatment.

Comparative Example 3: Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al
The face member machined from the rolled material of No. 1 was TIG-welded to the body of the face opening produced by casting, polished in a usual process, and then directly treated as a golf club head without heat treatment.

Comparative Example 4: Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al
The face member machined from the rolled material was heat treated under the same conditions as in Example 1. The heat-treated face member was TIG-welded to the face-opened body produced by casting, polished in a usual process, and then used as it was as a golf club head without further heat treatment.

With respect to the golf club heads obtained in Examples 1 to 2 and Comparative Examples 1 to 4 described above, the coefficient of restitution and durability were evaluated by the following methods, and the results are shown in Table 1.

Coefficient of Restitution: The coefficient of restitution of the golf club head was measured by using DATA LONG manufactured by Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. for the golf ball according to the USGA measuring method. The measurement result is an average value of 10 samples each.

Durability: A DATA LONG manufactured by Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. was used as a golf ball, and an air cannon was used to drive the golf ball into a face center of a golf club head at a ball speed of 50 m / s, and the face was damaged. The number of hit balls before was measured. The breakage of the face was judged by the fact that cracks, cracks, or obvious depressions having a depth of about 0.3 mm were confirmed. The measurement result is an average value of 10 samples each.

[0033]

[Table 1]

As can be seen from Table 1, in Examples 1 and 2, golf club heads having excellent coefficient of restitution and durability could be efficiently manufactured. On the other hand, in Comparative Example 1, although a golf club head excellent in coefficient of restitution and durability was obtained, mass productivity during heat treatment was low. Comparative Examples 2 and 3
In, since the heat treatment was not performed, the coefficient of restitution and durability were insufficient. In Comparative Example 4, since the heat treatment is performed in the state of the face member, the mass productivity during the heat treatment is high, but
The coefficient of restitution and durability improved by the heat treatment were impaired by TIG welding.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, the face member and the body which have been heat treated in advance are joined by laser welding or plasma welding to form a golf club head having a hollow structure. Thus, a highly durable golf club head can be efficiently manufactured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golf club showing a method for manufacturing a golf club head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a golf club showing a method for manufacturing a golf club head according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between aging temperature and tensile strength for Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between aging treatment temperature and drawing for Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between aging treatment time and hardness for Ti-15V-6Cr-4Al.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Face member 2 body 3 neck 10 golf club heads

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Nao Miura             2-1, Oiwake, Hiratsuka-shi, Kanagawa Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.             Ceremony Company Hiratsuka Factory (72) Inventor Yukio Takizawa             1-11-18 Nishiki Nishiki, Naka-ku, Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture             Within the special steel company F term (reference) 2C002 AA02 CH01 CH06 MM04 PP02                       PP03

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A method for manufacturing a golf club head, wherein a face member and a body that have been heat treated in advance are joined by laser welding or plasma welding to form a golf club head having a hollow structure. 2. The method of manufacturing a golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the face member is made of β-type titanium alloy. 3. The β-type titanium alloy is Ti-15V-6.
The method for manufacturing a golf club head according to claim 2, wherein the golf club head is Cr-4Al. 4. The method of manufacturing a golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the heat treatment is an aging treatment at a temperature of 450 ° C. or higher and a holding time of 6 hours or longer. 5. The body according to claim 1, which is made of a cast material.
4. The method for manufacturing a golf club head according to any one of 4 above. 6. The body according to claim 1, wherein the body is made of a pressed material.
5. The method for manufacturing a golf club head according to any one of 4 to 4. 7. A golf club head manufactured by the method for manufacturing a golf club head according to claim 1.