Patent ID: 7851527

Claim:
A golf ball material comprising an ionomer blend composition of components (a) and (b) below, wherein at least some portion of the acid groups in components (a) and (b) is neutralized with component (c) below: (a) at least one E/X copolymer and/or E/X/Y terpolymer having a polystyrene equivalent weight-average molecular weight Mw as determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) of at least about 100,000, wherein E is an α-olefin, X is a C 3 to C 8 unsaturated monocarboxylic acid or unsaturated dicarboxylic acid (or an acid anhydride thereof) and Y is an alkyl ester of an unsaturated monocarboxylic acid or unsaturated dicarboxylic acid in which the alkyl groups have from 1 to 8 carbon atoms, wherein X is present in an amount of from about 1 to about 30 wt % based on the overall weight of the E/X copolymer or the E/X/Y terpolymer, and Y is present in an amount of from about 2 to about 30 wt % based on the overall weight of the E/X/Y terpolymer, and wherein the copolymer and terpolymer include one or a mixture of two or more selected from the group consisting of copolymers and terpolymers which are partially neutralized with metal ions, copolymers and terpolymers which are completely neutralized with metal ions, and unneutralized copolymers and terpolymers; (b) at least one polyfunctional higher aliphatic acid with two or more functionalities that has a molecular weight of at least about 200 but less than about 1,500, which are alkenyl and alkyl derivatives having a number of carbons, including the carbon number of polycarboxylic acid groups, of at least about 8 but less than about 100 carbons, and acid anhydrides thereof, wherein the carboxylic acid groups are located at terminal positions on one end of the molecular chain, and each carboxylic acid group of the dibasic acid (dicarboxylic acid) to have a neighboring position to each other; and (c) an oxygen-containing inorganic metal compound selected from the group consisting of metal oxides, metal carbonates and metal hydroxides.