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AssigneeGlassimetal Technology, Inc.
InventorsWilliam L. Johnson, David S. Lee, Marios D. Demetriou, Jong Hyun Na, Glenn Garrett
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Golf clubs formed from bulk-solidifying amorphous metals (i.e., metallic glasses) having high elastic modulus and fracture toughness, and to methods of forming the same are provided. Among other components, the golf club materials disclosed enable fabrication of flexural membranes or shells used in golf club heads (drivers, fairways, hybrids, irons, wedges and putters) exhibiting enhanced flexural or bending compliance together with the ability to deform plastically and avoid brittle fracture or catastrophic failure when overloaded under bending loads. Further, the high strength of the material and its density, comparable to that of steel, enables the redistribution of mass in the golf club while maintaining a desired overall target mass.
A golf club, wherein at least a portion of the golf club is formed from a metallic glass having a Young's modulus greater than 120 GPa, and a notch toughness, defined as the stress intensity factor at crack initiation when measured on a 3 mm diameter rod containing a notch with length ranging from 1 to 2 mm and root radius ranging from 0.1 to 0.15 mm, of at least 50 MPa-m1/2, and wherein the metallic glass is capable of being formed into an object having a lateral dimension of at least 1 mm.
A method of forming at least one portion of a golf club from a metallic glass, the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.