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Golf ball

Golf ball description/claims

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to improving an appearance of a golf ball, more particularly to improving an appearance (luster and durability of a paint film) of a golf ball.

2. Description of the Related Art

A golf ball is normally colored white, but there has been an increasing demand for a golf ball with an enhanced quality and an individualized appearance. In response to such a demand, a golf ball provided with luster has been proposed.

For example, Japanese patent publication No. 2004-166719 proposes a golf ball provided with a mark formed on a surface of the golf ball body and a transparent covering layer covering the mark, wherein the transparent covering layer comprises a base resin and a luster material of a glass flake having a surface thereof covered with a metal oxide, and covers the mark that has a color tone satisfying L≦40 when represented by Lab system. Since the transparent covering layer covering the mark includes the luster material, it is possible to provide the golf ball with luster without lowering durability of the mark and the paint film itself.

Japanese patent publication No. 2005-52510 discloses a golf ball comprising a core and a cover having two or more layers covering the core, wherein a base material of an outermost layer cover of the cover is a thermoplastic resin in which 0.2 to 5 parts by mass of a cholesteric liquid crystal polymer is included based on 100 parts by mass of the thermoplastic resin, and wherein a base material of an inner cover adjacent to the outermost layer cover is a thermoplastic resin in which 1 part by mass or less of titanium oxide and 1 part by mass or less of a fluorescent pigment are included respectively based on 100 parts by mass of the thermoplastic resin.

Japanese patent publication No. H06-170013 discloses a golf ball containing a pigment developing color by an interferential action of reflected lights in a paint layer on a ball surface or a ball body, the hue of which changes depending on an angle from which it is viewed.

Japanese patent publication No. H11-151322 discloses a golf ball having a pearl color comprising a core and a cover covering the core, wherein the cover contains 0.02 to 1.5 parts by weight of a mica pigment, 1.0 to 5.0 parts by weight of titanium oxide and less than 5 parts by weight of a fluorescent pigment based on 100 parts by weight of the resin.

If the luster material is blended only in the cover of the golf ball, the luster material may not be able to exhibit its luster sufficiently due to opacity of the cover material.

If a content of the luster material is increased in order to allow the luster material to exhibit luster, there arises a problem of the weld lines becoming conspicuous when the cover is formed. Additionally, the durability of the golf ball may also be lowered. On the other hand, when the luster material is blended only in the paint film of the golf ball, there may be a case where a luster material clogs a paint line of the paint to generate unevenness of paint application, resulting in unevenness of appearance.

The present invention has been achieved in view of the above circumstances. The object of the present invention is to provide a golf ball having uniform and excellent luster and excellent durability.

The present invention provides a golf ball having a golf ball body and a paint film covering the golf ball body, wherein each of the golf ball body and the paint film contains a luster material having a particle size of 5 μm to 100 μm.

According to the present invention, since the luster material is blended in both the paint film and the cover, a golf ball having a good appearance with luster can be obtained. A particle size of the luster material is 5 μm to 100 μm, and when molding the cover, there is no problem of weld line being conspicuous, and when applying a paint, there occurs no clogging of a paint line so that unevenness of paint application hardly occurs.

The luster material preferably, for example, comprises mica as a core layer and a light-reflective material covering a surrounding area of the core layer. More preferably, the luster material comprises mica as the core layer and the light-reflective material consisting of a titanium oxide or an iron oxide covering a surrounding area of the core layer. Additionally, it is also a preferred embodiment that the golf ball body has a cover and the cover contains 0.1 part to 5 parts by mass of the luster material based on 100 parts by mass of the resin component constituting the cover. Further, it is preferred that the paint film contains 1 part or more and 20 parts or less of the luster material based on 100 parts of the resin component included in the paint film by mass.

The present invention can provide a golf ball having excellent luster and durability. The golf ball also has good coating workability, and the paint film to be formed has no unevenness of paint application and has good durability. According to the present invention, there is no problem of weld line becoming conspicuous when molding the cover.

A golf ball of the present invention comprises a golf ball body and a paint film covering the golf ball body, wherein each of the golf ball body and the paint film contains a luster material having a particle size of 5 μm to 100 μm.

First, the luster material used in the present invention will be explained. The present invention contains a luster material having a particle size of 5 μm to 100 μm (hereinafter simply referred to as “luster material” occasionally).

In the present invention, having a particle size of 5 μm to 100 μm means that the particles of 80% or more of the total volumes of the particles have a particle size in a range of 5 μm to 100 μm. In the present invention, preferably used is a luster material having a particle size of 5 μm to 80 μm, more preferably a luster material having a particle size of 5 μm to 60 μm.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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