Mold and associated methods
View Patent ↗A method of producing a mold includes obtaining a master mold, the master mold including surface details; exposing a curable material to the surface details; and curing the curable material with the surface details. A mold includes a surface for molding a composite part, the surface including surface details, wherein the mold is made of phenolic material.
1. A mold comprising:
a first region, a second region, and a third region located between the first region and the second region;
a surface, the surface including surface details, at least a portion of the surface details including micron-level detail, the micron-level details arranged in a location for molding to a polyurethane medium, at least a portion of the surface being situated in the third region;
the mold consisting essentially of a phenolic material, the mold withstanding a heating temperature of at least 100° C. and at least 8 tons of force for at least two cycles; and
a shim setting a thickness of the polyurethane medium;
wherein at least a portion of the surface details includes a plurality of recessed grooves and a plurality of recessed microgrooves located between the plurality of recessed grooves, wherein the plurality of recessed grooves are deeper than the plurality of recessed microgrooves.
2. The mold of claim 1 , wherein the mold includes at least one radius, each radius matching one of a desired bulge curvature and a desired roll curvature of a golf club face.
3. The mold of claim 1 , further comprising a first ejection slot located in the first region and a second ejection slot located in the second region.
4. The mold of claim 1 , wherein the phenolic material is one of a flake material and a powder material.
5. The mold of claim 4 , wherein the phenolic material is compacted to form a preform that has about 3 inches in diameter and about 1.5 inches in thickness.
6. The mold of claim 5 , wherein the preform withstands a heating temperature of up to 315° F.
7. The mold of claim 5 , wherein the preform withstands about 14 tons of force for between 5 minutes and 30 minutes.
8. The mold of claim 1 , further comprising a characteristic time (CT) test pad located between two adjacent grooves.
9. The mold of claim 8 , wherein at least some of the plurality of microgrooves are located on the CT test pad.
10. The mold of claim 1 , wherein each microgroove has a first end and a second end, the microgroove having a largest depth relative to the surface at the first end and becoming linearly shallower until the second end.
11. The mold of claim 1 , wherein consecutive microgrooves between two adjacent grooves form a repeating stair-step pattern.
12. The mold of claim 11 , wherein the repeating stair-step pattern terminates at any one of the two adjacent grooves.
13. The mold of claim 1 , wherein each groove has a depth ranging from 0.07 mm to 0.13 mm and a width ranging from 0.585 mm to 0.625 mm.
14. The mold of claim 13 , wherein each groove has a depth about 0.10 mm and a width about 0.605 mm.
15. The mold of claim 1 , wherein each microgroove has a depth ranging from 1 μm to 40 μm and a width ranging from 300 μm to 500 μm.
16. The mold of claim 15 , wherein each microgroove has a depth ranging from 14 μm to 22 μm and a width ranging from 380 μm to 420 μm.
17. The mold of claim 16 , wherein each microgroove has a depth about 18 μm and a width about 400 μm.
18. The mold of claim 1 , wherein each microgroove has a substantially identical profile.
19. The mold of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of microgrooves have non-uniform profiles.