Patent Grant
9545545
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for manufacturing a wooden golf head and, more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a high-strength steel golf head with a thin striking faceplate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Early wooden golf heads are made of stainless or carbon steel. In order to increase the performance of the wooden golf heads, several new steel-type casting materials have been continuously developed in recent years and have been used to manufacture wooden golf heads. For example, steel-type alloys containing cobalt (Co), molybdenum (Mo), or titanium (Ti) generally have a high strength above 240 ksi. Therefore, such steel-type alloys are suitable for manufacturing the wooden golf heads, thinning the striking faceplate of the wooden golf heads, decreasing the total weight of the wooden golf heads and improving the hitting effect of the wooden golf heads.
Current wooden golf heads are manufactured by using a high frequency induction furnace to rapidly melt the casting materials in the atmosphere, followed by removing the slag and gases in the molten metal by slagging and refinery. Static gravity pouring is then carried out. However, the casting materials for the high-strength wooden golf heads include active metals, such as cobalt, molybdenum, or titanium that are apt to react with oxygen in the air. Thus, rigorous oxidation easily occurs during the procedures of smelting of the casting materials, increasing difficulties in melting and easily causing oxidative fire cracks due to reaction with air during the pouring process. As a result, appearance defects, such as sesame dot defects and black bean defects, are apt to be formed on the cast products of the wooden golf heads. In worse situations, the reactive gas forms a large number of slag holes or blowholes in the cast products of the wooden golf heads and, thus, adversely affects the tensile strength of the wooden golf heads.
Namely, to assure that the striking faceplate of a wooden golf head can meet the tensile strength standard for withstanding cannon shots of predetermined strength and times without damage, the thickness of the striking faceplate of a current integrally formed wooden golf head is still too thick. TABLE 1 shows the tensile strengths and minimum thicknesses of striking faceplates of wooden, golf heads made of different materials by gravity pouring in the atmosphere, wherein the “minimum thickness” is defined as the minimum thickness of a striking faceplate having a strength capable of withstanding 3,000 cannon shots at a speed of 50 m/s without damage (not including the groove depth).
As can be seen from Table 1, to achieve the same cannon shot conditions, the tensile strength and the minimum thickness of each striking faceplate material are highly related. Namely, the minimum thickness can be smaller if the tensile strength of the striking faceplate is higher. Furthermore, given the above cannon shot conditions, the average minimum thickness (not including the groove depth) of the striking faceplate of a current integrally formed wooden golf head is about 2.59 mm. For a striking faceplate having a higher strength (above 240 ksi), the minimum thickness (not including the groove depth) has to be more than 2.0 mm. Thus, there is a bottleneck in reducing the overall weight of current wooden golf heads.
Furthermore, rigorous oxidation also reduces the flowability of the molten metal in the shell mold, leading to a reduced yield rate of the cast products of the wooden golf heads due to insufficient pouring or resulting in gaps in the cast products of the wooden golf heads due to cold shut. The tensile strength of the cast products of the wooden golf heads is also adversely affected.
On the other hand, on the wooden golf heads manufactured by static gravity pouring, additional casting materials are needed to elevate the pressing effect of the molten metal and to improve the yield rate of the wooden golf heads. However, the additional casting materials and the energy used for melting the additional casting materials result in the increased manufacturing cost.
In light of this, it is necessary to improve the conventional method for manufacturing a steel golf head.
It is therefore the objective of an embodiment of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a high-strength steel golf head to reduce the chemical reaction of the casting material with air during the smelting process, thereby increasing the tensile strength of the cast products and reducing the thickness of the striking faceplates of the wooden golf heads.
It is another objective of an embodiment of the invention to provide a method for manufacturing a high-strength steel golf head to increase the yield rate and quality of the cast products.
It is yet another objective of an embodiment of the invention to provide a method for manufacturing a high-strength steel golf head to reduce the manufacturing cost without using additional casting materials for maintaining the pressing effect of the molten metal.
The present invention fulfills the above objectives by providing a method for manufacturing a high-strength steel wooden golf head, which includes the following steps. A shell mold containing a crucible portion and a cavity portion in communication with the crucible portion via a connecting portion is placed on a rotary table. The cavity portion includes a hosel-shaping region, a face-shaping region, a heel-shaping region, a sole-shaping region and a toe-shaping region, while the hosel-shaping region, the face-shaping region, the heel-shaping region, the sole-shaping region and the toe-shaping region interconnect with each other. At least one metal ingot is placed in the crucible portion of the shell mold, and is melted into molten metal in a vacuum environment. The rotating shaft is driven to rotate the rotary table, causing the molten metal to flow into the cavity portion of the shell mold under the centrifugal force generated by the rotation. After the molten metal cools and solidifies, the rotating shaft is gradually slowed down, followed by destroying the shell mold after the molten metal completely solidifies. A casting with a cast product portion is obtained. The cast product portion is separated from the casting to obtain at least one casting product of the wooden golf head having a hosel, a face, a heel, a sole and a toe corresponding to the hosel-shaping region, the face-shaping region, the heel-shaping region, the sole-shaping region and the toe-shaping region, respectively. The at least one casting product of the wooden golf head has a tensile strength of 240-350 ksi and a minimum thickness of 1.4-1.8 mm not including a groove depth of the striking faceplate.
In a preferred form shown, the at least one casting product of the wooden golf head has an elongation of 4-20%.
In a preferred form shown, the at least one casting product of the wooden golf head has a restitution coefficient of 0.822-0.870.
In a preferred form shown, formation of the shell mold further includes the following substeps. A wax blank with a crucible blank and a casting blank is prepared. The wax blank further has a coupling blank in communication with an outer periphery of the crucible blank and the casting blank. The casting blank is a hollow wax shell. An enveloping layer is formed on an outer surface of the wax blank. The wax blank and the enveloping layer are heated to melt the wax. The dewaxed enveloping layer is sintered at a high temperature to form the integrally formed shell mold with the crucible portion, the cavity portion and the connecting portion.
In a preferred form shown, the casting blank contains a hosel-shaping portion, a heel-shaping portion coupling with the hosel-shaping portion, a sole-shaping portion coupling with the heel-shaping portion and a toe-shaping portion, coupling with the sole-shaping portion. The casting blank further includes a face-shaping portion coupling with the heel-shaping portion, the sole-shaping portion and a toe-shaping portion.
In a preferred form shown, the casting blank further includes a top-shaping portion coupling with the hosel-shaping portion, the face-shaping portion and the toe-shaping portion. The casting blank has an opening installed at the top-shaping portion.
In a preferred form shown, the method further includes melting the at least one metal ingot in the crucible portion of the shell mold into molten metal in the vacuum environment with an activated heater surrounding the crucible portion of the shell mold.
In a preferred form shown, the method further includes moving the activated heater upward to a preset location surrounding the crucible portion by a lift controller and moving the activated heater downward to a position not surrounding the crucible portion by the lift controller after the at least one metal ingot is melted into the molten metal.
In a preferred form shown, the method further includes rotating the rotary shaft at a speed of 200-700 rpm to allow the molten metal to flow into the cavity portion of the shell mold and fill the cavity portion of the shell mold.
In a preferred form shown, the method further includes maintaining the rotating speed of the rotary table at 200-700 rpm for 10-30 seconds. The rotary table is then gradually slowed down and stopped after the molten metal in the coupling portion of the shell mold cools and solidifies.
In a preferred form shown, the method further includes removing the shell mold from the rotary table after the rotating shaft is completely stopped. The shell mold is destroyed after the shell mold is restricted from movement for a period of time until the molten metal completely solidifies. Alternatively, the method further includes constantly cooling the shell mold on the rotary table after the rotary table stops rotating. The shell mold can be then removed from the rotary table and can be destroyed after the molten metal completely solidifies.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinafter and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
In the various figures of the drawings, the same numerals designate the same or similar parts. Furthermore, when the term “first”, “second”, “third”, “fourth”, “inner”, “outer”, “top”, “bottom” and similar terms are used hereinafter, it should be understood that these terms refer only to the structure shown in the drawings as it would appear to a person viewing the drawings, and are utilized only to facilitate describing the invention.
Specifically, the vacuum furnace 1 includes a chamber 11. A gas-guiding tube 12 can be mounted to the vacuum furnace 1 and intercommunicates with the chamber 11. A vacuum controller (not shown) can be operated to control the vacuum level in the chamber 11 by drawing gas out of the chamber 11 via the gas guiding tube 12 according to the preset values. Furthermore, the vacuum furnace 1 can include an opening 13, permitting a user to place an object in the chamber 11 or to retrieve the object out of the chamber 11, and a cover 14 can be provided to open or close the opening 13.
With reference to
Furthermore, a portion of the rotating shaft 2 in the chamber 11 can include a body 21 and a stop portion 22. Cross sections of the body 21 perpendicular to the rotating axis are different from cross sections of the stop portion 22 perpendicular to the rotating axis, forming an abutment portion 23 at an intersection between the body 21 and the stop portion 22. The rotary table 3 is coupled to the stop portion 22 and abuts the abutment portion 23, such that the rotary table 3 synchronously rotates with the rotating shaft 2. In this embodiment, the cross sections of the body 21 perpendicular to the rotating axis are circular. The stop portion 22 is located on an end of the rotating shaft 2, and the cross sections of the stop portion 22 perpendicular to the rotating axis are non-circular, allowing the rotary table 3 to couple with the stop portion 22 and to abut the abutment portion 23.
With reference to
Referring to
The crucible portion 41 and the cavity portion 42 of the shell mold 4 can be positioned in the crucible-positioning portion 32a and the cavity-positioning portion 32b of the rotary table 3, respectively, and, therefore, the crucible portion 41 is closer to the shaft-coupling portion 31 of the rotary table 3 than the cavity portion 42 is to the shaft-coupling portion 31 of the rotary table 3. Thus, as the rotary table 3 is driven to rotate, casting materials received in the receiving space 411 of the crucible portion 41 can flow into the at least one cavity 421 of the cavity portion 42 under centrifugal force.
With reference to
It's worth to mention that any portion of the casting blank 62 can intercommunicate with the coupling blank 63. That is to say, any portion of the casting blank 62 can be used as a pouring opening. Moreover, any portion of the casting blank 62 intercommunicating with the coupling blank 63 can include a plurality of portions according to the design of passage for improving the yield rate of the cast products, which is understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art. Namely, “the hosel-shaping region 62a coupled with the second end 632 of the coupling blank 63” is not a limitation but merely a diagrammatic drawing of the present invention.
Next, an enveloping layer 7 is formed on an outer surface of the wax blank 6 by dipping, coating, or clogging. Then, the wax blank 6 and the enveloping layer 7 are heated to melt the wax. As an example, the wax blank 6 and the enveloping layer 7 can be heated in a steam autoclave to melt the wax blank 6, and the molten wax flows out of the enveloping layer 7. The dewaxed enveloping layer 7 is sintered at a high temperature to form the integrally formed shell mold 4 including the crucible portion 41, the coupling portion 43 and the cavity portion 42. A fire-resistant material, such as zirconium silicate, yttrium oxide, stabilized zirconium oxide, or aluminum oxide, can be used as the material for a surface layer of the shell mold 4. A mullite (3Al2O3-2SiO2) compound or silicon oxide can be used as a fire-resistant material for a back layer of the shell mold 4. In a case that the back layer uses a mullite compound, the mullite compound preferably contains 45-60 wt % of aluminum oxide and 55-40 wt % of silicon oxide. In another case that the back layer uses a silicon oxide compound, the silicon oxide compound preferably contains more than 95% of silicon oxide.
With reference to
The method for manufacturing the high-strength wooden golf head according to the present invention can be implemented and includes the following steps.
With reference to
At least one metal ingot “P” is placed in the receiving space 411 of the crucible portion 41. In a case that the at least one metal ingot includes only one metal ingot “P”, the metal ingot “P” is a high-strength steel alloy and has a composition identical to a composition of a high-strength wooden golf head to be produced. In another case that the at least one metal ingot includes a plurality of metal ingots “P”, a composition of the molten metal of the metal ingots “P” is identical to a composition of a high-strength wooden golf head to be produced. For instance, four examples of the high-strength steel alloys used as the metal ingot “P” are shown, but are not limited thereto, in TABLE 1.
11-12.5
11-12.5
Referring to TABLE 1, the high-strength steel alloy shown as Examples 1-4 are iron-based materials containing cobalt (Co), molybdenum (Mo) or titanium (Ti), with the iron having a content of more than 50%, a density of 7.8 g/cm3 and a tensile strength of 250-350 ksi, and belongs to high-strength steel materials with a tensile strength of above 240 ksi.
With reference to
With reference to
After pouring, the rotating shaft 2 is still driven to rotate the rotary table 3. For example, in this embodiment, the rotary table 3 can be driven to rotate about the rotating axis at a speed of about 200-700 rpm for 10-30 seconds until the molten metal “N” at the pouring opening (internal of the coupling portion 43 of the shell mold 4) cools and solidifies. Rotating of the rotary table 3 is then gradually slowed down and finally stopped. Therefore, during the cooling and solidification processes of the molten metal “N” according to the present invention, the pressing effect of the molten metal “N” is evaluated by the centrifugal force generated by the rotation, thereby improving the yield rate of the wooden golf heads.
After the molten metal “N” completely solidifies, the shell mold 4 is destroyed to obtain a casting. For example, the shell mold 4 can be removed from the rotary table 3 after the rotating shaft 2 is completely stopped, and the shell mold 4 can be farther destroyed after the shell mold 4 is restricted from movement for a period of time until the molten metal “N” completely solidifies. As a result, pouring of the shell mold 4 is still carried out to improve the manufacturing process. Alternatively, the shell mold 4 can be cooled on the stopped rotary table 3 after the rotary table 3 stops rotating, and the shell mold 4 is removed from the rotary table 3 and destroyed after the molten metal “N” in the shell mold 4 completely solidifies, allowing the even cooling process of the molten metal “N” in the at least one cavity 421.
The casting includes a cast product portion. The cast product portion is separated from the casting (such as by cutting the cast product portion from the casting with a cutter or by vibration to break the cast product portion from the casting) to obtain at least one cast product of the wooden golf head. The at least one cast product of the wooden golf head has a hosel, a face, a heel, a sole and a toe corresponding to the at least one cavity 421. The at least one cast product has a tensile strength of about 240-350 ksi, an elongation of about 4-20% and a restitution coefficient of about 0.822-0.870. Furthermore, the minimum thickness (not including the groove depth) of the striking faceplate of the at least one wooden golf head is about 1.4-1.8 mm after withstanding 3,000 cannon shots at a speed of 50 m/s, which is helpful in reducing the overall weight of the at least one wooden golf head and in reducing the weight of the striking faceplate. The striking faceplate of the at least one golf wood club may have an even or uneven thickness. In addition, the minimum thickness of about 1.4-1.8 mm refers to the thickness of the thinnest part of the striking faceplate when the striking faceplate has an uneven thickness. Therefore, other parts of the striking faceplate can have a thickness of more than 1.8 mm.
Thus, the method for manufacturing the high-strength wooden golf head according to the present invention can be produced in a nearly vacuum environment to reduce the chemical reaction of the casting material with air during the smelting process, such that the metal ingot “P” can easily and more evenly melt to avoid oxidative fire cracks resulting from reaction with air while the molten metal “N” flows from the crucible portion 41 of the shell mold 4 into the cavity portion 42. Thus, appearance defects, such, as sesame dot defects and black bean defects, are less likely to be formed on the cast product of the wooden golf head. Furthermore, casting defects of slag holes or blowholes formed by the reactive gas are less likely to be generated, increasing the tensile strength of the cast product of the wooden golf head.
Furthermore, a reduced chemical reaction between the molten metal “N” and air also increases the flowability of the molten metal “N” in the shell mold 4. Furthermore, the molten metal “N” is reliably poured into the cavity 421 of the shell mold 4 under the centrifugal force before the molten metal “N” re-solidifies, which not only avoids the waste of the casting material due to solidification of a portion of the molten metal “N” in the crucible portion 41 but assures that the cavity portion 42 can be filled with the molten metal “N” after the molten metal “N” flows into the cavity portion 42. The yield rate of the cast products of the wooden golf heads can be increased, and the possibility of formation of gaps in the cast products of the wooden golf heads due to cold shut is reduced. Thus, the tensile strength of the cast products of the wooden golf heads is increased.
In conclusion, the method according to the present invention can be used for manufacturing a high-strength cast product of a wooden golf head. Then, the wooden golf head can be further combined with a crown to undergo a “milling processing” to obtain a high-strength steel wooden golf head. The use of high-strength steel-type casting material in combination with the vacuum centrifugal casting process can effectively reduce the thickness of the striking faceplate of the high-strength steel wooden golf heads. That is, the high-strength wooden golf head manufactured by the method according to the present invention can have a thin striking faceplate with a minimum thickness of about 1.4-1.8 mm while possessing a high strength and an excellent elongation to increase the total number of hits the striking faceplate can withstand. As a result, the high-strength wooden golf head has not only good hitting performances including a high restitution coefficient but also a prolonged service life.
In view of the foregoing, the method for manufacturing the high-strength wooden golf head according to the present invention can reduce the chemical reaction of the casting materials with air during the smelting process, increasing the tensile strength of the cast products and allowing the reduction of the average thickness of the wooden golf heads.
Furthermore, the method for manufacturing a high-strength wooden golf head according to the present invention can increase the yield rate and the quality of the cast products.
Moreover, the method for manufacturing the high-strength wooden golf head according to the present invention can provide the required pressing effect of the molten metal under the centrifugal force during the solidification process of the molten metal “N.” Therefore, it is not required to use additional energy to melt additional casting material, such that the method for manufacturing the high-strength wooden golf head according to the present invention is capable of reducing the manufacturing cost.
Although the invention has been described in detail with reference to its presently preferable embodiments, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention, as set forth in the appended claims.
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