Introduction
Golf club is an item used to hit a golf ball during the golf game. In early 17th until 19th century, the golf club manufacturing in Great Britain are depends on the local materials based on the manufactures area for example hardwoods. During the 19th century, hickory is selected as shaft materials because of the mechanical properties which is high modulus, durability, low density and others. Late of 19th century, metallic alloys are introduced as latest materials for the shaft but it was not fully established because the presence of the hollow metal shaft which can improved the variables for example taper, diameter and wall thickness.
The first composite used for the golf club is glass fiber but it was phased out due to the bad results on the torsional stiffness and low tensile strength. Finally in the end of 1960, the carbon fiber composite were used to replace the glass fiber due to the increased of tensile strength. (Roberts, 2012) A golf club is defined as an item which have a head and a shaft.
The innovation on the golf sets including the golf club shaft is bigger compared to others in the sports industry and history.
Golf club Mechanical Properties
Carbon fiber composite are widely used in the manufacturing of various products due to its lightweight and which is 70% fiber weight and strong material. In addition, carbon fiber composites are stronger and stiffer per unit weight compared to glass fiber and metals in term of strength.(Johnson, 2019) Property Value Tensile strength (MPa) 2550 Tensile Modulus (GPa) 135 Elongation (%) 2.
1 Density (g/cm3) 180 Carbon content (%) 93 Table 1 1 : Table of mechanical properties (Rahmani et.al, 2014) Stress-Strain curve for carbon fiber composites Failure mode The failure mode for the carbon fiber composites golf club is fracture due to the repeated stress on the golf club. The repeated stress will caused the total strength to drop under the stress verge. The golf club will create a fatigue because of the being hit so many times due the structure of face that not flexed in and out really far enough. Fracture type The fracture type of the carbon fiber composite is brittle due to its shape when failed. The golf club will undergoes small plastic deformation and not permanently deform because low energy is absorb before the materials stars to fracture.
Failure Location
The location where the failure will occurs on the golf club Failure mechanism. For the failure mechanism, carbon fiber composite act as a brittle solid with the limited strength by the most severe flaw. The failure mode for this material is micro buckling. The micro buckling happened because of the plastic shear instability due to the continuous bending of misaligned fiber during the compression. This failure mode will create a characteristic called “kink” on the fiber and compression debris. Fiber waviness exploited by compressive loading leading to stress concentrations in corners (Anonymous, 2019)
Failure at Golf Club
Failure at golf club shaft The cause of failure When the users start to hold the carbon fiber composite golf club and swing it in order to hit the golf ball, the contact will happened between the head of the golf club and the golf ball. Once that happened the stress will happened at the location of the contact point. The reason why the golf club is breaking apart is when the swing technique is not correct so the contact point between the head of the golf club and the ball are not happened. Most of the cases shows that when then gold club is poorly swing, the shaft of the golf club tends to hit the golf call instead of the head of the golf club. Besides that, in some cases, the head pf the golf club are hitting the ground instead of the golf ball.
Once this happened, the impact load will occurs and the amount of stress will be much higher than ultimate tensile strength then this will lead the golf club to break apart.
Prevention Method
- Avoid the shaft of the golf club form hitting the ball and ground when swing the golf club.
- Store the golf club at the proper place and don not expose the golf club to high temperature because it will affect the epoxy which is function to hold the golf club head and shaft. Once the epoxy is break down, the head of the golf club will easily separate from its shaft.
- Learn how to swing the golf club correctly and try to hit the ball by using the correct area at the golf club.
As a conclusion, carbon fiber composite can be consider as one of the best materials for manufacturing of golf club due its good mechanical properties. The failure that occurs mostly because of the human error for example poor swing technique and less cares parts and materials for the golf club.
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