Golf ball cover compositions

• US 6,861,492 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2003
• Issued: 03/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Acushnet Company (FILA Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Acushnet Company (FILA Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Wu, Shenshen, Ricci, Shawn, Rajagopalan, Murali, Harris, Kevin M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Buttner, David J.
• Application Number:
  US10/407,641
• Publication Number:
  US 20040198940A1
• Time in Patent Office: 697 Days
• Field of Search: 528/28, 528/29, 473/354, 473/371, 473/374, 473/378
• US Class Current: 528/28
• CPC Class Codes: C08G 18/10 Prepolymer processes involving reaction of isocyanates or isothiocyanates with compounds having active hydrogen in a first reaction step
• CPC Class Codes: C08G 18/3206 aliphatic
• CPC Class Codes: C08G 18/4277 Caprolactone and/or substituted caprolactone
• CPC Class Codes: C08G 18/61 Polysiloxanes
• CPC Class Codes: C08G 18/758 containing two or more cycloaliphatic rings

Abstract

A golf ball comprising a core and a cover, wherein the core or the cover comprises a thermoplastic or thermoset composition comprising a reaction product of an isocyanate and a siloxane polyahl having a formula of:
where R₁ is a hydrocarbon moiety; R₂ to R₆ are independently selected from hydrogen or hydrocarbon moieties; D₁ and D₂ are optional and independent hydrocarbon moieties; A₁ and A₂ are independent active hydrogen moieties; m is an integer from 1 to about 1,000; n is zero or an integer from 1 to about 1,000; and z is an integer from 1 to about 100.

Claims

1. A golf ball comprising a core and a cover, wherein the core or the cover comprises a thermoplastic or thermoset composition comprising a reaction product of an isocyanate and a siloxane polyahl having a formula of:

where R₁ is a hydrocarbon moiety;

R₂ is a hydrogen atom;

R₃ to R₆ are independently selected from hydrogen or hydrocarbon moieties;

D₁ and D₂ are optional and independent hydrocarbon moieties;

A₁ and A₂ are independent active hydrogen moieties;

m is an integer from 1 to about 1,000;

n is zero or an integer from 1 to about 1,000; and

z is an integer from 1 to about 100.

2. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the hydrocarbon moieties are linear, branched, aromatic, aliphatic, or alicyclic, comprising about 1 to about 12 carbon atoms.

3. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the active hydrogen moieties comprise primary hydroxy groups, secondary hydroxy groups, primary amine groups, or secondary amine groups.

4. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the reaction product is a thermoplastic or thermoset polyurethane, polyurea, or polyurethane/polyurea hybrid;

a castable reactive liquid material;

or a prepolymer thereof.

5. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the siloxane polyahl has a molecular weight of about 500 to about 150,000.

6. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the reaction product further comprises an oligomeric or polymeric reactive polyahl being aliphatic, alicyclic, araliphatic, or aromatic, and comprising polyether polyahls, polyester polyahls, polycaprolactone polyahls, polycarbonate polyahls, polyhydrocarbon polyahls, polyamide polyahls, polyolefin polyahls, polysiloxane polyahls, or polyahls converted from acid functional oligomers or polymers or ionomers thereof.

7. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein an equivalent ratio of the siloxane polyahl to the isocyanate is about 0.01:

1 to about 3;

1; and

wherein the isocyanate is organic, modified organic, aliphatic, alicyclic, unsaturated, araliphatic, aromatic, substituted, or unsubstituted, comprising isocyanate-containing monomers, dimers, trimers, multimeric adducts, oligomers, polymers, prepolymers, low-free-monomer prepolymers, quasi-prepolymers, diisocyanates, polyisocyanates, biurets, uretdiones, isocyanurates, or blends thereof.

8. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the composition further comprises a curing agent comprising saturated or unsaturated monomeric polyahls, oligomeric polyahls, polymeric polyahls, polyether polyahls, polyester polyahls, polycaprolactone polyahls, polycarbonate polyahls, polyhydrocarbon polyahls, polyamide polyahls, polyolefin polyahls, polysiloxane polyahls, polyahls converted from acid functional oligomers or polymers or ionomers thereof, diols, triols, tetraols, polyols, diamines, triamines, tetramines, polyamines, or amino alcohols.

9. The golf ball of claim 8, wherein the reaction product is a prepolymer having a NCO content of less than about 15 percent;

and wherein an equivalent ratio of the prepolymer to the curing agent is about 1;

0.6 to about 1;

1.5.

10. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the isocyanate, the siloxane polyahl, the reaction product, and the composition are all substantially saturated.

11. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the reaction product has a material hardness of less than about 70 Shore D.

12. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the golf ball has a compression of less than about 100.

13. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the core comprises a solid, liquid-filled, or gas-filled center and an outer core layer.

14. The golf ball of claim 1, wherein the cover comprises an outer cover layer and an inner cover layer;

and wherein at least one of the outer cover layer or the inner cover layer comprises a thermoplastic polyurethane, thermoset polyurethane, thermoplastic polyurea, or thermoset polyurea composition.

15. The golf ball of claim 1, further comprising an intermediate layer disposed between the core and the cover, wherein the intermediate layer comprises thermoplastics, ionomers, highly neutralized acid polymers, or thermoplastic elastomers.

16. A golf ball comprising a core and a cover, wherein the core or the cover comprises a thermoplastic or thermoset reaction product of a first reactive polyahl, an isocyanate, and a substantially saturated siloxane polyahl having a formula of:

where R₁ is a hydrocarbon moiety;

R₂ to R₆ are independently selected from hydrogen or hydrocarbon moieties;

D₁ and D₂ are hydrocarbon moieties;

A₁ and A₂ are independent active hydrogen moieties, at least one of which comprises secondary hydroxy group, primary amine group, or secondary amine group;

m is an integer from 1 to about 1,000;

n is zero or an integer from 1 to about 1,000; and

z is an integer from 1 to about 100.

18. The golf ball of claim 16, wherein the first reactive polyahl comprises monomeric polyahls, oligomeric polyahls, polymeric polyahls, polyether polyahls, polyester polyahls, polycaprolactone polyahls, polycarbonate polyahls, polyhydrocarbon polyahls, polyamide polyahls, polyolefin polyahls, polysiloxane polyahls, polyahls converted from acid functional oligomers or polymers or ionomers thereof, diols, triols, tetraols, polyols, diamines, triamines, tetramines, polyamines, or amino alcohols.

19. The golf ball of claim 16, wherein an equivalent ratio of the siloxane polyahl to the isocyanate is about 0.01:

1 to about 3;

1; and

wherein the isocyanate is organic, modified organic, aliphatic, alicyclic, unsaturated, araliphatic, aromatic, substituted, or unsubstituted, comprising isocyanate-containing monomers, dimers, trimers, multimeric adducts, oligomers, polymers, prepolymers, low-free-monomer prepolymers, quasi-prepolymers, diisocyanates, polyisocyanates, biurets, uretdiones, isocyanurates, or blends thereof.

20. The golf ball of claim 16, wherein the reaction product comprises a curing agent comprising the siloxane polyahl having a molecular weight of less than about 50,000, and the siloxane polyahl is present in an amount of at least about 0.05 equivalent per 1 equivalent of the curing agent.

21. The golf ball of claim 20, wherein the first reactive polyahl reacts with the isocyanate to form a prepolymer having a NCO content of less than about 15 percent;

and wherein an equivalent ratio of the prepolymer to the curing agent is about 1;

0.6 to about 1;

1.5.

22. The golf ball of claim 20, wherein the curing agent further comprises a second saturated or unsaturated reactive polyahl comprising monomeric polyahls, oligomeric polyahls, polymeric polyahls, polyether polyahls, polyester polyahls, polycaprolactone polyahls, polycarbonate polyahls, polyhydrocarbon polyahls, polyamide polyahls, polyolefin polyahls, polysiloxane polyahls, polyahls converted from acid functional oligomers or polymers or ionomers thereof, diols, triols, tetraols, polyols, diamines, triamines, tetramines, polyamines, or amino alcohols.

23. The golf ball of claim 16, wherein the first reactive polyahl, the isocyanate, and the reaction product are all substantially saturated.

24. The golf ball of claim 16, wherein the cover comprises an outer cover layer and an inner cover layers, and wherein at least one of the inner cover layer or the outer cover layer comprises a thermoplastic polyurethane, thermoset polyurethane, thermoplastic polyurea, or thermoset polyurea composition having a Shore D hardness of about 30 to about 70 and a flexural modulus of about 10,000 psi to about 80,000 psi.

17. A golf ball comprising a core and a cover, wherein the core or the cover comprises a thermoplastic or thermoset reaction product of an isocyanate and a siloxane polyahl, and wherein the siloxane polyahl is a homo-oligomer, co-oligomer, homopolymer, or copolymer consisting 5-10 repeating organosiloxane monomer units of the following structure:

where R₁ is a linear, branched, aromatic, aliphatic, or alicyclic hydrocarbon moiety having 1 to about 12 carbon atoms; and

R₂ is hydrogen or a hydrocarbon moiety.