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AssigneeAcushnet Company
InventorsMurali Rajagopalan, Derek A. Ladd
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The invention is directed to golf ball core compositions comprising at least one natural or synthetic rubber and at least one high Vicat softening temperature thermoplastic material, methods of preparing the compositions, and golf ball cores and golf balls including the compositions. The compositions of the invention are made by mixing at least one natural or synthetic rubber and at least one thermoplastic or thermoplastic elastomer at a first temperature; cooling the mixture to a second temperature which is below an activation temperature of a free-radical initiator; adding the free-radical initiator to the first mixture to form a second mixture; and heating the second mixture to a third temperature that to facilitate crosslinking. The golf ball cores are incorporated into multilayer balls including dual cover balls with thin outer layers.
A golf ball comprising:
A golf ball comprising a core and a cover, wherein the core comprises at least one layer formed of a composition comprising a rubber, a metal salt of an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid, an initiator, and a thermoplastic material having a Vicat-softening temperature of at least about 38° C. wherein the thermoplastic material comprises a block polymer selected from the group consisting of copoly(ether-ester), copoly(ether-amide), copoly(ester-amide), copoly(urethane-ether), copoly(urethane-ester), maleic anhydride grafted styrene-ethylene, butylene-styrene copolymer, and mixtures thereof, and wherein the cover comprises at least one layer comprising an ionomer comprising acid moieties neutralized to 100 percent.
A golf ball comprising a core and a cover, wherein the core comprises at least one layer formed of a composition comprising a rubber, a metal salt of an α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid, an initiator, and a thermoplastic material having a Vicat-softening temperature of about 60° C. to about 150° C. wherein the thermoplastic material comprises a block polymer selected from the group consisting of copoly(ether-ester), copolv(ether-amide), copolv(ester-amide), conoly(urethane-ether), copolv(urethane-ester), maleic anhydride grafted styrene-ethylene, butylene-styrene copolymer, and mixtures thereof, and wherein the cover comprises at least one layer comprising an ionomer comprising acid moieties neutralized to 100 percent.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.