Abrasion resistant coated golf equipment
AssigneeAcushnet Company
InventorsMatthew F. Hogge, Mitchell E. Lutz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Golf equipment, or a portion thereof, with improved abrasion resistance is obtained by applying a coating comprising hard filler particles, a coupling agent and a polymer precursor preferably comprising a plurality of reactive monomers and/or oligomers. Colloidal silica may be used as the filler, silanes of the form Y—(CH2)nSiX3, wherein Y is an organofunctional group providing the bonding with the polymer matrix attached to the central silicon atom via the stable (CH2)n, carbon chain and X represents the silicon-functional or alkoxy group that hydrolyzes and subsequently reacts with the active sites on inorganic surfaces. The coating may be hardened by curing with ultraviolet radiation or solvent evaporation and crosslinking.
Claims43
Golf equipment, or a portion thereof, having a coating which comprises:
- a reactive component A comprising a polyol or a mixture of polyol components and polymer precursors;
- a reactive component B comprising an isocyanate component which comprises at least one of diphenylmethane 4,4′-diisocyanate, toluene diisocyanate, isophrone diisocyanate, or hexamethylene diisocyanate, and optionally an aziridine;
- colloidal silica present in an amount sufficient to increase the abrasion resistance of the coating;
- a coupling agent present in an amount sufficient to react with the colloidal silica;
- and
- a solvent,
- or a reaction product thereof.
Golf equipment, or a portion thereof, having a coating which comprises:
- an acid functional resin group comprising at least one of epoxy resins, acrylic resins, polyesters, polyethers, anhydrides, or polyamides;
- colloidal silica present in an amount sufficient to increase the abrasion resistance of the coating;
- a coupling agent present in an amount sufficient to react with the colloidal silica;
- and
- a solvent,
- or a reaction product thereof.
Golf equipment, or a portion thereof, having a coating which comprises:
- an unsaturated resin comprising at least one of a unsaturated carboxylic acid resin or an unsaturated vinyl resin;
- colloidal silica present in an amount sufficient to increase the abrasion resistance of the coating;
- a coupling agent present in an amount sufficient to react with the colloidal silica;
- and
- a solvent,
- or a reaction product thereof.
Golf equipment, or a portion thereof, having a coating which comprises:
- a reactive component A comprising a polyol or a mixture of polyol components and polymer precursors;
- a reactive component B comprising an isocyanate component which comprises at least one of diphenylmethane 4,4′-diisocyanate, toluene diisocyanate, isophrone diisocyanate, or hexamethylene diisocyanate, and optionally an aziridine;
- an unsaturated resin comprising at least one of a unsaturated carboxylic acid resin or an unsaturated vinyl resin:
- colloidal silica present in an amount sufficient to increase the abrasion resistance of the coating;
- a coupling agent present in an amount sufficient to react with the colloidal silica;
- and
- a solvent,
- or a reaction product thereof.
A method of forming the top coat for golf equipment, or a portion thereof, which comprises:
- mixing a liquid reactive component A, a liquid reactive component B, colloidal silica, a coupling agent, and a solvent system to form a liquid top coat material;
- applying the material to an outer surface of the golf equipment to form a coating;
- and
- curing the coating in situ on the outer surface of the golf equipment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.