Mechanical properties and microstructure of commercial amorphous golf club heads made of Zr–Ti–Cu–Ni–Be bulk metallic glass

Mechanical properties and microstructures of Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 (numbers indicate at.%) bulk metallic glass taken from commercial golf club heads were investigated at room temperature and 573 K. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) indicate that the thin central section of the golf club head is amorphous and the outer rim of the head is crystallized. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses revealed the presence of Zr2Cu, ZrBe2, Cu2Ni and BeNi in the rim of the iron head. In the crystallized region, crystalline particles with the size of ∼1 μm were observed. At room temperature, amorphous sample (∼2100 MPa) revealed higher fracture stress than crystallized sample (∼1700 MPa). Crystallized sample fractured in the elastic region whereas the amorphous sample displayed some plasticity corresponding serrated flow before the fracture. The serrated flow region with some plasticity in the amorphous alloy results from strain hardening and repetitive shear band initiation and propagation. The crystallized alloy extracted from the thick part of the club fractured in the elastic region, at a much lower stress level than the amorphous, suggesting that relatively coarse crystal particles formed during cooling cause the brittle fracture. Scanning electron microscope observations revealed that the compressive fracture surface of the samples from the central thin section mainly consisted of vein-like structure, but the samples from the outer rim of the head showed mixture of vein-like structure and featureless brittle fracture morphology. At 573 K, both samples exhibited the decrease of strength and fractured in the elastic region. In this study, the effect of crystallization on the reliability and safety of golf club heads was also examined.