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Compositions for golf equipment

Compositions for golf equipment description/claims

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/162,544, filed Sep. 14, 2005, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/859,557, filed Jun. 2, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,105,628, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

The present invention is directed to polyurea compositions formed by combining a polyurea prepolymer, a polyamine curative, and a tin catalyst. The present invention is also directed to the use of such compositions in golf equipment.

Polyureas are known to be potentially useful materials for golf ball covers. However, polyurea compositions can be difficult to process during golf ball manufacturing. For example, many polyurea systems have rapid viscosity build-up upon mixing due to their auto-catalytic nature, which does not allow enough time to adequately mix the materials and mold the parts.

Thus, a desire remains for polyurea compositions with improved processability suitable for forming golf ball layers. The present invention describes such compositions and the use thereof in a variety of golf ball layers.

In one embodiment, the present invention provides a golf ball having at least one layer formed from a polyurea composition. The composition comprises the product formed by combining a cycloaliphatic polyisocyanate prepolymer, a cycloaliphatic amine curative, and a tin catalyst.

By the present invention, it has been found that the reactions of linear and cycloaliphatic-based polyisocyanates and cycloaliphatic amine curing agents can be effectively inhibited by the addition of tin compounds.

The compositions of the present disclosure typically comprise a reaction product of a polyisocyanate and one or more reactants. In one example, the reaction product can be a polyurethane formed from a polyurethane prepolymer and a curative, the polyurethane prepolymer being a reaction product of a polyol telechelic and an isocyanate. The polyol telechelic comprises at least two terminal hydroxyl end-groups that are independently primary, secondary, or tertiary. The polyol telechelic can further comprise additional hydroxyl groups that are independently located at the termini, attached directly to the backbone as pendant groups, and/or located within pendant moieties attached to the backbone. The polyol telechelic can be α,ω-hydroxy telechelics having isocyanate-reactive hydroxyl end-groups on opposing termini. All polyol telechelics are polyols, which also include monomers, dimers, trimers, adducts, and the like having two or more hydroxyl groups.

In another example, the reaction product can be a polyurea formed from a polyurea prepolymer and a curative, the polyurea prepolymer being a reaction product of a polyamine telechelic and an isocyanate. The polyamine telechelic comprises at least two terminal amine end-groups that are independently primary or secondary. The polyamine telechelic can further comprise additional amine groups that are independently primary or secondary, and are independently located at the termini, attached directly to the backbone as pendant groups, located within the backbone, or located within pendant moieties that are attached to the backbone. The secondary amine moieties may in part form single-ring or multi-ring heterocyclic structures having one or more nitrogen atoms as members of the rings. The polyamine telechelic can be α,ω-amino telechelics having isocyanate-reactive amine end groups on opposing termini. All polyamine telechelics are polyamines, which also include monomers, dimers, trimers, adducts, and the like having two or more amine groups.

In a further example, the reaction product can be a poly(urethane-urea) formed from a poly(urethane-urea) prepolymer and a curative. The poly(urethane-urea) prepolymer can be a reaction product of an isocyanate and a blend of polyol and polyamine telechelics. Alternatively, the poly(urethane-urea) prepolymer can be a reaction product of an aminoalcohol telechelic and an isocyanate. The aminoalcohol telechelic comprises at least one primary or secondary terminal amine end-group and at least one terminal hydroxyl end-group. The polyamine telechelic can further comprise additional amine and/or hydroxyl groups that are independently located at the termini, attached directly to the backbone as pendant groups, located within the backbone, or located within pendant moieties that are attached to the backbone. The secondary amine moieties may in part form single-ring or multi-ring heterocyclic structures having one or more nitrogen atoms as members of the rings. The aminoalcohol telechelic can be α-amino-ω-hydroxy telechelics having isocyanate-reactive amine and hydroxyl end groups on opposing termini. All aminoalcohol telechelics are aminoalcohols, which also include monomers, dimers, trimers, adducts, and the like having at least one amine group and at least one hydroxyl group.

Any one or combination of two or more of the isocyanate-reactive ingredients disclosed herein can react with stoichiometrically deficient amounts of polyisocyanate such as diisocyanate to form elastomers that are substantially free of hard segments. Such elastomers can have rubber elasticity and wear resistance and strength, and can be millable.

Polyamine telechelics have two, three, four, or more amine end-groups capable of forming urea linkages (such as with isocyanate groups), amide linkages (such as with carboxyl group), imide linkages, and/or other linkages with other organic moieties. As such, polyamine telechelics can be reacted with polyacids to form amide-containing polyamine or polyacid telechelics, be reacted with isocyanates to form polyurea prepolymers, and be used as curatives to cure various prepolymers. Any one or more of the hydrogen atoms in the polyamine telechelic (other than those in the terminal amine end-groups) may be substituted with halogens, cationic groups, anionic groups, silicon-based moieties, ester moieties, ether moieties, amide moieties, urethane moieties, urea moieties, ethylenically unsaturated moieties, acetylenically unsaturated moieties, aromatic moieties, heterocyclic moieties, hydroxy groups, amine groups, cyano groups, nitro groups, and/or any other organic moieties. For example, the polyamine telechelics may be halogenated, such as having fluorinated backbones and/or N-alkylated fluorinated side chains.

Any polyamine telechelics available or known to one of ordinary skill in the art are suitable for use in compositions of the present disclosure. The Mw of the polyamine telechelics can be about 100-20,000, such as about 150, about 200, about 230, about 500, about 600, about 1,000, about 1,500, about 2,000, about 2,500, about 3,000, about 3,500, about 4,000, about 5,000, about 8,000, about 10,000, about 12,000, about 15,000, or any Mw therebetween. The polyamine telechelic can comprise one or more hydrophobic and/or hydrophilic segments.

Suitable polyamine telechelics, such as α,ω-amino telechelics, include polyamine polyhydrocarbons (e.g., polyamine polyolefins), polyamine polyethers, polyamine polyesters (e.g., polyamine polycaprolactones), polyamine polyamides (e.g., polyamine polycaprolactams), polyamine polycarbonates, polyamine polyacrylates (e.g., polyamine polyalkylacrylates), polyamine polysiloxanes, polyamine polyimines, polyamine polyimides, fatty polyamine telechelics, adduct polyamine telechelics, polyamine telechelics derived from acid-catalyzed polyols and/or polyol telechelics, derivatized polyamine telechelics, ethylenically and/or acetylenically unsaturated polyamine telechelics, and polyamine copolymers including polyamine polyolefinsiloxanes (such as α,ω-diamino poly(butadiene-dimethylsiloxane) and α,ω-diamino poly(isobutylene-dimethylsiloxane)), polyamine polyetherolefins (such as α,ω-diamino poly(butadiene-oxyethylene)), polyamine polyetheresters, polyamine polyethercarbonates, polyamine polyetheramides, polyamine polyetheracrylates, polyamine polyethersiloxanes, polyamine polyesterolefins (such as α,ω-diamino poly(butadiene-caprolactone) and α,ω-diamino poly(isobutylene-caprolactone)), polyamine polyesteramides, polyamine polyestercarbonates, polyamine polyesteracrylates, polyamine polyestersiloxanes, polyamine polyamideolefins, polyamine polyamidecarbonates, polyamine polyamideacrylates, polyamine polyamidesiloxanes, polyamine polyamideimides, polyamine polycarbonateolefins, polyamine polycarbonateacrylates, polyamine polycarbonatesiloxanes, polyamine polyacrylateolefins (such as α,ω-diamino poly(butadiene-methyl methacrylate), α,ω-diamino poly(isobutylene-t-butyl methacrylate), and α,ω-diamino poly(methyl methacrylate-butadiene-methyl methacrylate)), polyamine polyacrylatesiloxanes, polyamine polyetheresteramides, any other polyamine copolymers, as well as blends thereof. Examples of such polyamine telechelics include those disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/859,557, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

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