DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-8, 10 and 19-24 in the reply filed on 6 February 2026 is acknowledged.
The applicant highlighted that claims 1-10 and 19-24 read on the elected embodiments. The examiner respectfully submits claim 9 does not read on the elected species because claim 9 requires “the ceramic sintered body is positioned at a central part of the composite fiber.” However, the applicant elected “the [central] part is a metal sintered body and the [outer] part is a ceramic sintered body.” Therefore, claim 9 does not read on the elected species.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-8, 10 and 19-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2014/0332733 (hereinafter “Joo”), and further in view of JP H08-12425 A with a machine translation (concurrently submitted) (hereinafter “Yamazaki”) being used as the English language equivalent translation.Regarding claim 1 Joo teaches a nanofiber comprising metal and ceramic components (composite fiber) (abstract). Joo teaches the fiber includes a layered structure comprising a metal body core and a ceramic body sheath adjacent to the metal body (paragraphs [0126] and [0247]; and Figures 31 and 36). Joo does not explicitly teach: the metal body is a metal sintered body; and the ceramic body is a ceramic sintered body. Yamazaki teaches a ceramic material having high strength and high toughness, where the ceramic material (ceramic body) includes partially stabilized zirconia in a first phase, and nickel particles (metal body) as a second phase on the particle boundary of the first phase (abstract). Yamazaki teaches in the zirconia-based composite ceramic sintered body, a part of the nickel particles is present in the partially stabilized zirconia crystal particles, where the presence of a portion of the nickel particles imparts high strength and improved toughness (paragraph [0027]). Yamazaki teaches to impart higher toughness, it is desirable that a continuous phase of nickel exists so as to cover the grain boundary of the partially stabilized zirconia, where the nickel continuous phase is formed by a sintering process (paragraph [0027]), which corresponds to the nickel particles (metal body) being a metal sintered body and the ceramic material (ceramic body) being a ceramic sintered body. Joo and Yamazaki are analogous inventions in the field of metal and ceramic containing composites. It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time of the invention to modify the metal body and ceramic body of Joo with the sintered bodies of Yamazaki to improve toughness and strength of the formed composite.Regarding claims 2 and 3 In addition, Joo teaches the core-sheath structure forms an interface with each other (Figure 36 and [0126]). Yamazaki teaches a continuous phase of nickel exists so as to cover the grain boundary (crystal grains at an interface) of the partially stabilized zirconia (ceramic sintered body) (paragraph [0027]), which corresponds to the interface: having a face roughness; and is composed of crystal grains.Regarding claim 4 In addition, Yamazaki teaches the nickel (metal sintered body) is composed of a polycrystalline nickel (crystal grain of metal) (paragraph [0030]), and the partially stabilized zirconia (ceramic sintered body) is composed of a crystal grain of ceramic (abstract).Regarding claim 5 In addition, Joo teaches the core-sheath structure forms an interface with each other (Figure 36 and [0126]), where the combination of Joo and Yamazaki, in reference to the rejection of claim 4, corresponds to the claimed feature requiring the crystal grain of metal (polycrystalline nickel) and the crystal grain of ceramic form an interface between the metal sintered body and the ceramic sintered body.Regarding claim 6 In addition, Yamazaki teaches the continuous phase of nickel exists so as to cover the grain boundary of the partially stabilized zirconia. This nickel continuous phase is formed by sintering at a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point of nickel (about 1450°C). At a temperature equal to or higher than the above melting point, nickel dissolves in the sintering process and wets the zirconia grain boundaries, thereby obtaining a composite sintered body in which at least a part of the zirconia grain boundaries is covered with a nickel phase (paragraph [0027]), which corresponds to the interface has no gap in a sectional view of the composite fiber.Regarding claim 7 The limitations from claim 7 fail to provide any additional structure to the claimed composite fiber of claim 2. Therefore, claim 7 is considered to be met based on the rejection of claim 2. In other words, the presence of the grain boundaries of the partially stabilized zirconia (ceramic sintered body) on its surface (from the rejection of claim 2) has a roughness, and the manner in which the roughness is determined (being defined by a line roughness of the composite fiber in a sectional view) fails to establish any additional structure to the claimed fiber.Regarding claim 8 As previously mentioned, Joo teaches the fiber includes a layered structure comprising a metal body core (metal sintered body being positioned at a central part of the composite fiber) and a ceramic body sheath adjacent to the metal body (paragraphs [0126] and [0247]; and Figures 31 and 36).Regarding claim 10 As previously mentioned, Joo teaches the fiber includes a layered structure comprising a metal body core (a central part of the composite fiber is composed of the metal sintered body) and a ceramic body sheath (at least part of an outer part of the composite fiber is composed of the ceramic sintered body) adjacent to the metal body (paragraphs [0126] and [0247]; and Figures 31 and 36).Regarding claims 19 and 20 In addition, Joo teaches the metal component (metal component of the metal sintered body) of the nanofiber is composed of at least one of silver, palladium, copper, aluminum, chromium, titanium, platinum, iron, and nickel (paragraph [0168]).Regarding claim 21 In addition, Joo teaches the ceramic component (ceramic component of the ceramic sintered body) of the nanofiber is composed of at least one of lithium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium, yttrium, zirconium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, boron, aluminum, silicon, indium, tin, antimony, barium, tantalum, tungsten, lead, bismuth, lanthanum, cesium, neodymium, samarium, gadolinium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and halogens (fluorine and/or chlorine) (paragraphs [0199], [0221] – [0224], [0227] and [0228]).Regarding claim 22 In addition, Joo teaches an embodiment where the ceramic component includes BaTiO3 (barium titanate) (paragraph [0221]).Regarding claim 23 Regarding the tensile strength of the composite fiber, although the prior art does not explicitly disclose the composite fiber (comprising the metal sintered body and the ceramic sintered body) has a tensile strength of 5 kgf/mm2 or more, the claimed property is deemed to naturally flow from the structure in the prior art since the combination of Joo and Yamazaki teaches an invention with an identical and/or substantially identical structure and/or chemical composition as the claimed invention. See MPEP §2112.Regarding claim 24 In addition, Joo teaches the diameter (fiber size) of the nanofiber is generally less than 5,000 nm (5 µm) (paragraph [0096]), which falls within the claimed range.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIAN HANDVILLE whose telephone number is (571)272-5074. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday, from 9 am to 4 pm.
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/BRIAN HANDVILLE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1783
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