Golf club head comprising microspheres
A putter-type golf club head having a body with a face insert composed of a cast urethane and glass microspheres is disclosed herein, as are methods of making face inserts with a polymer-microsphere mixture. The microspheres are non-uniformly distributed within the cast urethane to have a greater concentration of the microspheres at one section of the insert. The microspheres include K, S, iM, and XLD microspheres.
1 . A method of making a golf club putter head insert comprising:
mixing a plurality of microspheres into a first quantity of polymer to produce a liquid polymer-microsphere mix;
pouring the liquid polymer-microsphere mix into a mold;
selecting a wait time;
selecting a first cure time;
after the pouring step is completed, waiting for the wait time, such that a first quantity of the plurality of microspheres migrate from a first interior portion of the mold to a second interior portion of the mold, such that a concentration of microspheres in the first interior portion of the mold is less than a concentration of microspheres in the second interior portion of the mold;
after the wait time is completed, applying heat to the mold for the first cure time, so as to cure the liquid polymer-microsphere mix into a solid insert blank;
removing the solid insert blank from the mold; and
cutting the solid insert blank into a selected shape to form a finished golf club putter head insert.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting a mold-orientation angle with respect to a ground;
positioning the mold at the selected mold-orientation angle, so as to use gravity to control the direction of the migration of the first quantity of the plurality of microspheres from a first interior portion of the mold to a second interior portion of the mold, by positioning the first interior portion of the mold and the second interior portion of the mold with respect to the ground.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after the solid insert blank is cured, pouring a second quantity of liquid polymer into the mold; and
applying heat to the mold for the second cure time, so as to cure the second quantity liquid polymer and bonding the second quantity of liquid polymer to the solid insert blank.