THE MODELING, FABRICATION, AND TESTING OF A METAL 3D PRINTED GOLF CLUB DRIVER USING 3D SCANNING TECHNIQUES AND POWDER BED FUSION
Open Access
Author:
Goyal, Suryan Prakash
Area of Honors:
Mechanical Engineering
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Timothy William Simpson, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Sean N Brennan, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
3D printing Golf Sports Powder Bed Fusion CAD Prototyping Additive Manufacturing Manufacturing Callaway Golf Clubs Titanium Metal Additive Manufacturing
Abstract:
The purpose of the research in this thesis is to explore the capabilities of 3D scanning techniques and additive manufacturing in modeling and printing a metal golf club driver. Some research has been conducted into the use of additive manufacturing in the golf industry, and it all has reinforced the revolutionary abilities of the technology. This thesis provides background information on traditional club manufacturing, current metal additive manufacturing techniques, and current research into additive manufacturing in the golf industry. Then, it discusses the modeling and scanning techniques used to generate the 3D replica of a cutting-edge driver on the market. The 3D printing process, testing phases, and analysis of the results follow. In this study, the CT scanning of a Callaway XR16 driver resulted in an extremely accurate 3D model that was then used to 3D print a full-scale replica in titanium using laser-based powder bed fusion. This replica was tested against the original club, and initial results indicated better performance from the 3D printed version than the original. Though more testing needs to be conducted, the conclusions in this thesis indicate that additive manufacturing could be a promising technology that revolutionizes the way golf clubs are designed and fabricated.
