Golf club made of a bulk-solidifying amorphous metal
View Patent ↗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.
1. 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%.
2. The golf club of claim 1 , wherein at least a part of the club head is made of the composite material.
3. The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the club head is a driver club head.
4. The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the club head has a club head face made of the composite material.
5. The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the club head face has a thickness of less than about 2.5 millimeters.
6. The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the second ductile phase is formed from a molten alloy having an original composition in the range of from 52 to 68 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.
7. The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the second phase comprises particles having a particle size in the range of from 0.1 to 15 micrometers.
8. The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the second phase comprises particles having a spacing between adjacent particles in the range of from 0.1 to 20 micrometers.
9. The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the second phase comprises in the range of from 15 to 35 volume percent of the composite.
10. 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%.
11. The golf club as recited in claim 10 wherein the second phase is formed by in situ precipitation from a molten alloy.
12. The golf club as recited in claim 10 wherein the ductile metal particles have a particle size in the range of from 0.5 to 8 micrometers and a spacing between adjacent particles in the range of from 1 to 10 micrometers.
13. The golf club as recited in claim 10 wherein the second phase is formed in situ from a molten alloy having an original composition in the range of from 52 to 68 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.
14. 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%.
15. The golf club as recited in claim 14 wherein second phase is in the form of dendrites.
16. The golf club as recited in claim 14 wherein the second phase has a modulus of elasticity less than the modulus of elasticity of the amorphous metal alloy.
17. The golf club as recited in claim 14 wherein the second phase comprising ductile metal particles are sufficiently spaced apart for inducing a uniform distribution of shear bands traversing both the amorphous phase and the second phase and having a width of each shear band in the range of from 100 to 500 nanometers.
18. The golf club as recited in claim 14 wherein the second phase comprising a ductile metal alloy has an interface in chemical equilibrium with the amorphous metal matrix.
19. The golf club as recited in claim 14 wherein the stress level for transformation induced plasticity of the ductile metal particles is at or below the shear strength of the amorphous metal matrix.
20. 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 (Zr 100-x Ti x-z M z ) 100-y ((Ni 45 Cu 55 )) 50 Be 50 ) 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%.
21. 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%.