GOLF CLUB HEAD

Abstract

A golf club head includes a main body and a plate member disposed on the main body. The plate member includes a plurality of carbon fiber layers which are stacked on each other and are impregnated with a thermoset carbon fiber resin containing carbon nanotubes. The carbon nanotubes are present in an amount ranging from 0.01 wt% to 5 wt%, based on the total weight of the thermoset carbon fiber resin.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority of Taiwanese Invention Patent Application No. 110119669, filed on May 31, 2021.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to a ball equipment, more particularly to a golf club head.

BACKGROUND

A traditional all-metal golf club head has advantages such as having a strong structure and producing a loud hitting sound, but it also has a disadvantage such as having a heavy overall weight. In order to overcome the shortcomings in weight, there are many golf club heads whose crown or sole are made of a thermoset carbon fiber composite material. Since the thermoset carbon fiber composite material has the characteristics of light weight and strong structure, it can reduce the weight of a golf club head, and can produce a special visual effect of carbon fiber texture. However, the thermoset carbon fiber composite material might cause the hitting sound to be low and not solid.

In recent trend, it is desirable to use a thermoplastic carbon fiber composite material to make the crown or sole of a golf club head, and the golf club head thus produced might improve the problem of poor hitting sound. However, the use of the thermoplastic carbon fiber composite material might result in a high production cost.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a golf club head that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art. The golf club head includes:

a main body; and

a plate member disposed on the main body, the plate member including a plurality of carbon fiber layers which are stacked on each other and are impregnated with a thermoset carbon fiber resin containing carbon nanotubes, the carbon nanotubes being present in an amount ranging from 0.01 wt% to 5 wt%, based on a total weight of the thermoset carbon fiber resin.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a first embodiment of a golf club head according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating a structure of a plate member of the first embodiment; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating a second embodiment of the golf club head according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 2, a first embodiment of a golf club head according to the present disclosure includes a main body 1 and a plate member 2 disposed on the main body 1.

The plate member 2 includes a plurality of carbon fiber layers 22 which are stacked on one another and are impregnated with a thermoset carbon fiber resin 21 containing carbon nanotubes. The plate member 2 is made by subjecting the carbon fiber layers 22 to a hot press process and subsequently conducting hardening. A thickness of the plate member 2 ranges from 0.4 mm to 0.8 mm.

The carbon fiber layers 22 may be selected from the group consisting of unidirectional carbon fiber fabrics and 3K carbon fiber fabrics.

The thermoset carbon fiber resin 21 may be an epoxy resin. Based on the total weight of the thermoset carbon fiber resin 21, the carbon nanotubes may be present in an amount ranging from 0.01 wt% to 5 wt%.

In this embodiment, the plate member 2 is configured to be a crown of the golf club head.

FIG. 3 illustrates a second embodiment of the golf club head according to the present disclosure. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the plate member 2 is configured to be a sole of the golf club head.

By virtue of the carbon nanotubes having a higher quality factor (i.e., Q Factor), the plate member 2 can produce a loud and clear hitting sound. In addition, the production cost of the carbon nanotubes is lower than that of the thermoplastic carbon fiber composite material. Thus, the golf club head according to the present disclosure can exhibit the advantages of both producing a loud and clear hitting sound and having a low production cost.

The disclosure will be further described by way of the following examples. However, it should be understood that the following examples are solely intended for the purpose of illustration and should not be construed as limiting the disclosure in practice.

EXAMPLES

To produce a respective one of three exemplary golf club heads according to the present disclosure (i.e., examples 1 to 3), a thermoset carbon fiber resin 21 was prepared using the corresponding carbon nanotube content shown in Table 1. Each of examples 1 to 3 was subjected to measurement of the frequency of hitting sound using technology well-known to those skilled in the art.

In addition, two conventional golf club heads (i.e., comparative examples 1 to 2) were subjected to the same measurement. Specifically, comparative example 1 was an all-metal golf club head, and comparative example 2 was a golf club head that had a crown made of a thermoset carbon fiber composite material without carbon nanotubes.

As shown in Table 1 below, the frequency of hitting sound determined for each of examples 1 to 3 was higher than that determined for comparative example 2, and was lower than that determined for comparative example 1 to an acceptable extent. These results indicate that by virtue of the carbon nanotubes having a high Q Factor, the hitting sound of the golf club head can be improved. Moreover, the cost of the carbon nanotubes is lower than that of the thermoplastic carbon fiber composite material, effectively reducing the overall production cost.

In particular, the applicant had the following finding (data not shown). When the thermoset carbon fiber resin 21 contained greater than 5 wt% of the carbon nanotubes based on the total weight of the thermoset carbon fiber resin 21, the overall fluidity of the thermoset carbon fiber resin 21 was decreased.

Therefore, some regions of the carbon fiber layers 22 were not impregnated with the thermoset carbon fiber resin 21, resulting in a dry fiber phenomenon and difficulty to form the plate member 2. Accordingly, it is more satisfactory that the upper limit of the content of the carbon nanotubes in the thermoset carbon fiber resin 21 is 5 wt%.

	TABLE 1
	Carbon nanotube	Frequency of
	content (wt %)	hitting sound (Hz)
	Example 1	0.1	4,272
	Example 2	0.5	4,036
	Example 3	4	4,015
	Comparative	0	4,365
	Example 1
	Comparative	0	3,887
	Example 2

To sum up, by virtue of the plate member 2 including a plurality of the carbon fiber layers 22 which are stacked on each other and are impregnated with the thermoset carbon fiber resin 21 containing 0.01 wt% to 5 wt% of the carbon nanotubes, the golf club head of the present disclosure can exhibit the advantages of producing a loud and clear hitting sound and having a low production cost.

In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment(s). It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects, and that one or more features or specific details from one embodiment may be practiced together with one or more features or specific details from another embodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure.

While the disclosure has been described in connection with what are considered the exemplary embodiments, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

Claims

1. A golf club head, comprising:

a main body; and

a plate member disposed on the main body, said plate member including a plurality of carbon fiber layers which are stacked on each other and are impregnated with a thermoset carbon fiber resin containing carbon nanotubes, said carbon nanotubes being present in an amount ranging from 0.01 wt% to 5 wt %, based on a total weight of said thermoset carbon fiber resin.

2. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein said plate member has a thickness ranging from 0.4 mm to 0.8 mm.

3. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein said carbon fiber layers of said plate member are selected from the group consisting of unidirectional carbon fiber fabrics and 3K carbon fiber fabrics.

4. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein said thermoset carbon fiber resin is an epoxy resin.

5. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein said plate member is configured to be a crown or a sole of said gold club head.