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US 7,357,731 B2Granted
Golf club made of a bulk-solidifying amorphous metal
OwnerWilliam L. Johnson, Choongnyun Paul Kim +1inventors
InventorsWilliam L. Johnson, Choongnyun Paul Kim, Atakan Peker
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A golf club is made of a club shaft and a club head. Either the club shaft or the club head is made at least in part of a in-situ composite of bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy. The weights of the various club heads of a set, which have different volumes, may be established by varying the compositions and thence the densities of the bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys.
Claims21
A golf club, comprising:
- a club shaft;
- and
- a club head,
- wherein at least one of the club shaft and the club head being made at least in part of a composite material comprising an amorphous metal alloy forming a substantially continuous matrix;
- and a second ductile metal phase embedded in the matrix and formed in situ in the matrix by crystallization from a molten alloy, and wherein the second phase is sufficiently spaced apart for inducing a uniform distribution of shear bands throughout a deformed volume of the composite, the shear bands involving at least four volume percent of the composite before failure in strain and traversing both the amorphous metal phase and the second phase, and wherein the composite material has the following specific properties:
- an elastic strain limit of around 2.0%,
- a yield strength of around 1.6 GPa, and
- a tensile ductility of from 5 to 10%.
5 more elements
A golf club, comprising:
- a club shaft;
- and
- a club head,
- wherein at least one of the club shaft and the club head being made at least in part of a composite material comprising:
- a bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy forming a substantially continuous matrix;
- a second phase embedded in the matrix, the second phase comprising ductile metal particles having a particle size in the range of from 0.1 to 15 micrometers and a spacing between adjacent particles in the range of from 0.1 to 20 micrometers;
- and
- wherein the composite material has the following specific properties:
- an elastic strain limit of around 2.0%, a yield strength of around 1.6 GPa, and a tensile ductility of from 5 to 10%.
6 more elements
A golf club comprising:
- a club shaft;
- and
- a club head,
- wherein at least one of the club shaft and the club head being made at least in part of a composite material comprising:
- an amorphous metal alloy forming a substantially continuous matrix;
- and
- a second phase embedded in the matrix, the second phase comprising ductile crystalline metal particles sufficiently spaced apart for inducing a uniform distribution of shear bands throughout a deformed volume of the composite, the shear bands involving at least about four volume percent of the composite before failure in strain and traversing both the amorphous metal phase and the second phase, and wherein the composite material has the following specific properties:
- an elastic strain limit of around 2.0%,
- a yield strength of around 1.6 GPa, and
- a tensile ductility of from 5 to 10%.
7 more elements
A golf club comprising:
- a club shaft;
- and
- a club head,
- wherein at least one of the club shaft and the club head being made at least in part of a composite material comprising:
- an amorphous metal alloy forming a substantially continuous matrix, the alloy comprising (Zr100-xTix-zMz)100-y((Ni45Cu55))50Be50)y where x is in the range of from 5 to 95, y is in the range of from 10 to 30, z is in the range of from 3 to 20, and M is selected from the group consisting of niobium, tantalum, tungsten, molybdenum, chromium and vanadium;
- and
- a second phase embedded in the matrix, the second phase comprising a ductile crystalline metal alloy containing M;
- and
- wherein the composite material has the following specific properties an elastic strain limit of around 2.0%, a yield strength of around 1.6 GPa, and a tensile ductility of from 5 to 10%.
6 more elements
A golf club comprising:
- a club shaft;
- and
- a club head,
- wherein at least one of the club shaft and the club head being made at least in part of a composite material comprising:
- an amorphous metal alloy forming a substantially continuous matrix;
- and
- a second phase embedded in the matrix, the second phase comprising a ductile crystalline metal alloy;
- and wherein the second phase is formed in situ from a molten alloy having an original composition in the range of from 52 to 75 atomic percent zirconium, 3 to 17 atomic percent titanium, 2.5 to 8.5 atomic percent copper, 2 to 7 atomic percent nickel, 5 to 15 atomic percent beryllium, and 3 to 20 atomic percent niobium;
- and
- wherein the second phase is sufficiently spaced apart for inducing a uniform distribution of shear bands throughout a deformed volume of the composite, the shear bands involving at least four volume percent of the composite before failure in strain and traversing both the amorphous metal phase and the second phase;
- and
- wherein the composite material has the following specific properties an elastic strain limit of around 2.0%, a yield strength of around 1.6 GPa, and a tensile ductility of from 5 to 10%.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.