| abstract |
Ethylene/(meth)acrylic acid ionomers which have been modified with relatively low levels of a stearic acid moiety, particularly metal stearates and especially calcium stearate have improved resilience for a given level of hardness of PGA Compression values. The improvement is seen in bulk material when measurements are made on solid neat spheres. When used as cover material, the improvement is more manifest for softer material, and is less, or disappears, for typical mixed metal ionomer hard covers. The stearic-modified ionomers or ionomer blends are especially useful when the ionomer is formulated for use as a golf ball core, center, one-piece ball and as a soft golf ball cover. For covers, softer ionomer compositions will show an improvement. |