加工熱処理を用いた高反発ゴルフクラブフェースの開発

概要

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SUS630 is a martensitic precipitation hardened stainless steel having high strength and the good corrosion resistance comparable with SUS304, and used as stern shaft, high strength bolts, and the golf club faces, etc. In golf club faces, thickness of face steel had been 2.3 mm or more to secure durability. To obtain better "Carry" and "Impact feeling" by nonconventional high restitution face, thickness of the face was expected to be possible by thinning by 2.0 mm or less. However, to thin the thickness of the face, a strong material was necessary to secure durability, and application of ausforming process for SUS630 was proposed. Through ausforming process for SUS630 in forging test, tensile strength was closed to 1500 MPa because of the effect of ausforming. To mass-produce the ausformed SUS630, hot rolling process through ausforming was selected from the point of view in production cost, production variation, and constraint on machine. Ausforming process in finish rolling with application of 80 % high reduction in rough rolling with a view of strengthening and more toughness by refining austenitic grain size, named as Combined Ausforming Process (C-AF), was specified on hot rolling process, and hardness has achieved from 480HV to 510HV after aging treatment. Strengthening of SUS630 with C-AF rolling process made it possible to be adopted as golf club face material with high restitution by thinning thickness by 2.0 mm or less.