Whatever happened to "graphene"?

[Phil75070]

Graphene in golf balls, at least those made by Callaway, was all the rage back in 2018 when first introduced. Given its properties, the strongest and thinnest known material, it supposedly revolutionized golf balls, enabling the core to be larger, the outer cover to be thinner. Alan Hocknall, Sr VP of Engineering at Callaway, said at the time, "...graphene has enabled us to push the boundaries of golf ball performance". From the next generation of balls going forward from then, not a mention. Is it still used anywhere in golf balls, and we just don't hear about it anymore? If dropped, why?

 

[JB]

Graphene enabled companies to explore multiple things involving strength and weight. It was also challenging to work with and supply on a grand scale. What it did do however was show what could be accomplished and since has been surpassed.

As a side note, Hocknell does not work at Callaway anymore.

 

[buckeyewalt]

Wow...Tough for Callaway to loose a person like Hocknell. Knowing his name for all of the past things that he has done at Callaway, I'm sure he will be missed a lot!

 

[Jman]

Wow...Tough for Callaway to loose a person like Hocknell. Knowing his name for all of the past things that he has done at Callaway, I'm sure he will be missed a lot!

Doc Hock was awesome, but I’d say they’re doing just fine. Haha

 

[Tywithay]

I think it has been surpassed by borophene. Borophene is more flexible and potentially stronger, depending on the application. It makes more sense for golf, in my opinion.

 

[hedley_lamarr08]

I also imagine that cost was an issue when it came to profit margins

 

[03trdblack]

I think it has been surpassed by borophene. Borophene is more flexible and potentially stronger, depending on the application. It makes more sense for golf, in my opinion.

Unfortunately they can't mass produce borophene quite yet.

 

[Jman]

I also imagine that cost was an issue when it came to profit margins

It was more that it was out-innovated in this application, which is always the goal of an R&D team as massive as Callaway’s. Pretty cool.

 

[hedley_lamarr08]

It was more that it was out-innovated in this application, which is always the goal of an R&D team as massive as Callaway’s. Pretty cool.

I always wonder about materials due to cost. I keep waiting on the "next tungsten"

 

[aljaklaw]

it is interesting. graphene is in a lot of places now from fabrics to paint

 

[Tywithay]

I always wonder about materials due to cost. I keep waiting on the "next tungsten"

I think all the known metals more dense than tungsten are super expensive.

 

[drb1956]

Are they not still using it in certain ball production? It became a staple in certain models of Callaway balls, and enhanced the ball. Did they just phase it out, or are still using it?

 

[Templet0n]

I always wonder about materials due to cost. I keep waiting on the "next tungsten"

I keep wondering what the next urethane is..

 

[03trdblack]

I think all the known metals more dense than tungsten are super expensive.

That is for sure! For example, Osmium is the heaviest metal found on earth and twice as heavy as lead. Unfortunately it's also toxic and extremely volatile and is extracted from from platinum if that tells you how expensive it is. From what I found it's 30 times more valuable than gold because it is 1500 times rarer and has ten times more purity than gold.

 

[erock9174]

It left along with Jailbreak