High Durability Structures of Amorphous Alloy and a Method of Forming

• US 20070226979A1
• Filed: 08/13/2004
• Published: 10/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crucible Intellectual Property LLC
• Original Assignee: Crucible Intellectual Property LLC
• Inventors: Johnson, William, Nguyen, Tranquoc, Paton, Neil
• Granted Patent: US 10,214,800 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 29/90.700
• CPC Class Codes: C22C 45/00 Amorphous alloys making amorphous non-ferrous alloys C22C1/11
• CPC Class Codes: C22C 45/10 with molybdenum, tungsten, niobium, tantalum, titanium, or zirconium or Hf as the major constituent
• CPC Class Codes: C22F 1/00 Changing the physical structure of non-ferrous metals or alloys by heat treatment or by hot or cold working apparatus for mechanical working of metal B21, B23, B24
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/479 by shot peening or blasting

Abstract

Articles of bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys with improved durability and fatigue resistance, and more specifically articles of bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys subjected to a surface treatment, such as shot-peening, which creates deformations in the exterior surface, and methods of improving the durability and fatigue resistance of bulk-solidifying amorphous alloys using a surface treatment, such as shot-peening.

Claims

1. An article made of a bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy having improved durability and fatigue resistance, comprising:

an exterior surface; and

a plurality of deformations in the exterior surface, wherein the deformations result from a mechanical surface treatment process applied to the exterior surface.

2. The article of claim 1 wherein the surface treatment process is a shot-peening process.

3. The article of claim 2 wherein the shot-peening process is applied to a substantial portion of the exterior surface.

4. The article of claim 2 wherein the shot-peening process comprises a shot having a diameter of approximately 0.006 inches to 0.040 inches.

5. The article of claim 1 wherein the treated article is a golf club face insert.

6. The article of claim 1 wherein the surface treatment process is a laser shock peening process, wherein the deformations are formed by a shock wave that ablates a portion of the exterior surface.

7. An article of bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy having an exterior surface with a plurality of deformations therein, wherein the deformations alter the exterior surface such that the article has improved durability and fatigue resistance as compared to a substantially identical article lacking the deformations in the exterior surface.

8. A method of improving the durability and fatigue resistance of an article made from bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy, comprising:

applying a shot-peening process to at least a portion of an exterior surface of the article; and

creating a plurality of deformations in the exterior surface by mechanically compressing a plurality of shots against the exterior surface.