Steven M. Nesbit

Golf Club Deflection Characteristics as a Function of the Swing Hub Path

This study investigated the relationships between golfer hub path trajectories and interaction kinetics, and club behavior. An equation of motion describing a flexible golf club system was derived and solved to yield time and club position deflection behavior during the downswing. This equation was applied to three diverse subjects whose kinematic and kinetic information was used to drive the simulation. It was determined that there is a relationship between the timing of the maximum interaction torque and the increase in normal force applied to the club and club head deflections. Also, it appears that there is a correlation between degree of radius reduction directly before impact and shaft deflection behavior. The timing of both torque and normal force are directly related to changes in hub path radius thus the effect of hub path geometry on club deflection behavior is secondary. Based upon these findings, a method for fitting shafts to specific swing characteristics was developed that optimized predicted carry distance. These results are based upon limited subjects.

Influence of hydrogen-induced ordering on the tensile and fatigue characteristics of the alloy system Pd1 − xMnx (x = 0.1–0.25)

Abstract Tensile, microhardness and fatigue tests were carried out on palladium-manganese alloys with manganese contents in the range 10–25 at.%. Each alloy was examined in three structural forms: a disordered form, an Al 3 Zr-ordered form and a hydrogen-induced L1 2 -ordered form. While the disordered and Al 3 Zr-ordered forms of a particular alloy have quite similar mechanical properties, the L1 2 -ordered form of the alloy differs markedly from the others. It has been found that the L1 2 -ordered form of an alloy has enhanced strength and hardness, together with reduced ductility and fatigue life, compared with either the disordered or Al 3 Zr-ordered forms. These differences are attributed to the formation of a hydride phase in each alloy during the preparation of the L1 2 -ordered structure.

Analytical design of iron golf club heads.

This paper describes an analytical method for the design of iron golf club heads. The method divides the club head into the basic shape and the back-weighting. The basic shape, which consists of the club face profile, hosel and club face-hosel blend section, is configured directly from geometric specifications. An adaptive random search optimization algorithm is employed to design the back-weighting to obtain desired mass properties for the club head. The designer has control of the general configuration of the back-weighting through the method of geometric influencing. Several dynamically equivalent iron club heads are presented that were designed using this method.

Mechanical properties of the order-disorder alloy system Pd1−xMnx (x = 0.1–0.2)

Abstract Tensile and hardness tests were carried out on palladium-manganese alloys with manganese contents in the range 10–20 atomic percent. Each alloy studied can exist in one of three forms: a disordered form: an Al 3 Zr-ordered form; or a hydrogen-induced L1 2 -ordered form. While the disordered and Al 3 Zr-ordered forms have quite similar mechanical properties, the L1 2 -ordered form of each alloy differs markedly from the other forms. These differences have been attributed to the formation of a hydride phase in each alloy during preparation of the L1 2 -ordered structure.