Golf club and other structures, and novel methods for making such structures

The method of making a golf club structure that comprises placing a relatively porous preform in a squeeze casting die configured to form the golf club structure, subjecting the mold to heat to bring it to a temperature above room temperature but no higher than the melting point temperature of a selected matrix metal to be introduced into the mold, subjecting a quantity of the selected matrix metal to sufficient heat to bring its temperature above its melting point to its superheat temperature point, and introducing the superheated matrix metal into the mold under sufficient pressure to cause it to fully penetrate the porous preform and to rapidly solidify.

The method of making a golf club structure that comprises preparing a component preform of such structure by pressing a quantity of tungsten metal particles in a first die mold configured to form a preform of such component, placing said preform in a selected region of a second die mold configured to form the golf club structure together with a quantity of ceramic particles that are less dense than the tungsten particles to form a hybrid preform in said second die mold comprising the tungsten component preform and the ceramic particles and squeeze casting said hybrid preforms in the second die mold with a molten superheated metal matrix material to produce a composite molded golf club structure that is selectively weighted as determined by the placement of the tungsten component preform in the mold employed to form said golf club structure.

The method of making a golf club head structure that comprises:

• selectively placing quantities of tungsten metal powder in each of the toe, sole and heel regions of a mold configured to form a golf club head, placing a powder mixture of ceramic SiC particles and diamond particles in the remaining space of said mold, pressing the contents of the mold to produce a combined loading of greater than 50% by volume, thereby producing a hybrid powder preform of the golf club head, squeeze casting the hybrid powder preform with molten superheated aluminum to produce a composite club head that is selectively weighted in the toe, sole and heel and having a hard club head face comprised of both SiC and diamond.

A method of making a golf club structure that comprises:

• forming a relatively porous ceramic preform shaped to form the golf club structure, said ceramic preform being formed essentially of TiB2 powder that is incorporated in a slurry and cast in a mold configured to form the golf club structure and dried to produce a green body structure that is subjected to heat under appropriate temperatures and atmosphere conditions to sinter the green body structure and produce a porous sintered TiB2 body having the desired golf club structure shape, subjecting the porous sintered TiB2 structure to infiltration with matrix metal by a squeeze casting process using molten superheated matrix metal to produce the final golf club structure formed of a composite comprising a continuous phase of TiB2and a continuous phase of matrix metal.

The method of making a golf club structure comprising a club shaft that comprises:

• assembling a bundle of hollow glass fiber, steel capillary tubes and graphite fibers, squeeze casting the bundle with molten superheated aluminum in a mold configured to form the golf club structure to produce a hybrid composite tube configured as a golf club shaft.

The method of making a golf club structure that comprises laying up a quantity of whiskerized graphite fibers to provide a preform in a mold configured to form the golf club structure, infiltrating the whiskerized graphite fibers with matrix metal by squeeze casting with molten superheated aluminum in the mold to cause full penetration of said molten aluminum into said preform and produce aluminum matrix composite golf club structure.

The method of making a golf club structure that comprises:

• preparing a preform comprising a mixture of buckytubes containing single and multiwalled fullerenes with soot that also contains other fullerenes, placing the preform in a mold configured to form the golf club structure, and introducing molten superheated aluminum into the mold with the preform and squeeze casting the contents of the mold to produce a composite golf club structure.

The method of making a composite structure that comprises the steps of:

• forming a fibrous preform of said structure from a naturally occurring starting product or a product derived therefrom that contains one or more of a cellulose, semi cellulose or lignin and which, upon pyrolization, forms a carbonaceous char, subjecting said fibrous preform to heat under non oxidizing pyrolyzing condition to form a porous char of said preform, and infiltrating said porous char with a matrix metal by a squeeze casting process using molten superheated matrix metal to cause full penetration of said molten matrix metal into said porous char.