High Performance Golf Ball Comprising Modified High Mooney Viscosity Rubber

Abstract

A high performance golf ball made in part of a modified high Mooney viscosity rubber. The modified high Mooney viscosity rubber has less than about 20 phr oil and is high Mooney viscosity rubber having a Mooney viscosity at least about 40 blended with between about 1 phr and about 10 phr of process oil and between about 0.05 phr and 5 phr of peptizing agent.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A high performance golf ball comprising:
 a modified high Mooney viscosity rubber having less than about 20 pounds per 100 pounds of rubber (phr) of oil, the modified high Mooney viscosity rubber comprising high Mooney viscosity rubber having a Mooney viscosity at least about 40 blended with between about 1 phr and about 10 phr of process oil and between about 0.05 phr and about 5 phr of a peptizing agent.   
     
     
         2 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , the golf ball further comprising a core layer, wherein the modified high Mooney viscosity rubber is in the core layer. 
     
     
         3 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , the golf ball further comprising an inner cover layer, wherein the modified high Mooney viscosity rubber is in the inner cover layer. 
     
     
         4 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the high Mooney viscosity rubber is selected from the group consisting of polybutadiene rubber, polyisoprene rubber, natural rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, ethylene propylene diene rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber, and blends thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The golf ball of  claim 4 , wherein the high Mooney viscosity rubber is polybutadiene rubber. 
     
     
         6 . The golf ball of  claim 5 , wherein the polybutadiene rubber comprises greater than about 90 percent cis structure. 
     
     
         7 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the amount of the process oil is between about 2 phr and about 7.5 phr. 
     
     
         8 . The golf ball of  claim 1 , wherein the process oil is selected from the group consisting of process oils, vegetable oils, vulcanized or functionalized vegetable oils, oils from animals, functionalized oils, and blends thereof. 
     
     
         9 . The golf ball of  claim 8 , wherein the process oil is selected from the group consisting of naphthenic oils, paraffinic oils, and blends thereof. 
     
     
         10 . The golf ball of  claim 8 , wherein the vulcanized or functionalized vegetable oils are selected from the group consisting of epoxidized soy bean oil, epoxidized linseed oil, epoxidized alkyl oils, the reaction products of epoxidized oil with a peroxide, an amine, a polyamide, or an isocyanate-containing molecule, and blends thereof. 
     
     
         11 . The golf ball of  claim 10 , wherein the functionalized vegetable oil is epoxidized soy bean oil. 
     
     
         12 . The golf ball of  claim 4  wherein the peptizing agent is pentachlorothiophenol. 
     
     
         13 . The golf ball of  claim 8  wherein the peptizing agent is pentachlorothiophenol. 
     
     
         14 . The golf ball of  claim 2 , the golf ball further comprising an inner cover layer, wherein the inner cover layer comprises HNP. 
     
     
         15 . The golf ball of  claim 14 , wherein the HNP is selected from the group consisting of HPF1000, HPF2000, HPF AD1024, HPF AD1027, HPF AD1030, HPF AD1035, HPF AD1040, and blends thereof. 
     
     
         16 . The golf ball of  claim 14 , wherein the relative weight proportions of the modified high Mooney viscosity polybutadiene rubber to HNP in a blended product range from about 60:40 to about 99.5:0.5. 
     
     
         17 . The golf ball of  claim 16 , wherein relative weight proportions of the modified high Mooney viscosity polybutadiene rubber to HNP in a blended product range from about 75:25 to about 99:1. 
     
     
         18 . The golf ball of  claim 2 , wherein the golf ball further comprises a layer essentially surrounding the core, the layer comprising HNP. 
     
     
         19 . The golf ball of  claim 2 , wherein the core consists essentially of modified high Mooney viscosity polybutadiene rubber and the layer consists essentially of HNP. 
     
     
         20 . The golf ball of  claim 3 , the golf ball further comprising an outer cover, the outer cover comprising polyurethane.