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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 1/26/2026 has been entered.
Status of Claims
Claims 1 and 5 are currently amended, Claims 2 and 3 are as originally filed, and Claims 4 and 6-9 are as previously presented.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL - The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 5-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claim 5 recites a surface treated layer “consisting of a nitride, oxide, oxynitride or carbonitride selected from the group consisting of Ti, Al, Si and Cr [emphasis added].” The specification as originally filed does not support the limitation “consisting of” for either the surface treated layer (nitride, oxide, oxynitride or carbonitride) or that the metals associated with the layer (Ti, Al, Si and Cr).
Claims dependent on any of the rejected claims are likewise rejected under this statute.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2019/031577 A, based on the machine translation, in view of Yalamanchili et al (US 2022/0220601, which is in the same patent family as WO 202234484 A1 published 11/26/2020.
WO 2019/031577 A (WO ‘577) teaches a method for producing a high-entropy alloy with Co, Cr, Fe, Ni, and Ti each have 5-35 atomic % and Mo is 0-8 atomic % (abstract) using additive manufacturing (page 5). However, WO ‘577 does not teach forming a surface-treated layer as claimed.
Yalamanchili et al teaches producing a coating comprising at least one PVD coating layer in a chamber comprising oxygen and nitrogen as reactive gases to form a multi-anion high-entropy alloy-oxynitride structure with magnetron sputtering (abstract). All alloy elements are present at a range of 10-40 atomic % [0016]. The coating comprises or consists of a transition metal nitride, AlN, and Si3N4 [0017]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the sputtering process of Yalamanchili et al in the process of WO ‘577, since Yalamanchili et al teaches providing an efficient, simple, fast, and cheap method for producing new high-entropy alloy coating materials that show thermal stability at high temperature [0012].
Regarding Claim 2, WO ‘577 teaches an aging treatment at 500-900 °C (page 6).
Regarding Claim 3, Yalamanchili et al teaches the coating temperature is 100-400 °C [0033].
Regarding Claim 4, WO ‘577 teaches the heat source used for molding is laser light (page 3).
Claims 5-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO ‘577 in view of Yalamanchili et al.
WO ‘577 teaches a high-entropy alloy with Co, Cr, Fe, Ni, and Ti each have 5-35 atomic % and Mo is 0-8 atomic % (abstract). However, WO ‘577 does not the alloy has a surface-treated layer consisting of a nitride, oxide, oxynitride, or carbonitride selected from the group consisting of Ti, Al, Si, and Cr or the Rockwell hardness as claimed.
Regarding the surface-treated layer, Yalamanchili et al is applied as discussed above. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention for the alloy of WO ‘577 to have the surface-treated layer as taught in Yalamanchili et al, since Yalamanchili et al teaches high-entropy alloy coating materials that show thermal stability at high temperature [0012].
Regarding the Rockwell hardness, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the high-entropy alloy coating of CN ‘716 would read on the claimed Rockwell hardness, since where the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure or composition, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established. See MPEP § 2112.01. In this case, the prior art product is substantially identical in structure and composition and produced by a similar process.
Regarding Claim 6, WO ‘577 teaches selective laser melting to form a three-dimensional member using rapid solidification (page 5). Heat treatment is applied to form very small grains of 100 nm or smaller are dispersed in matrix crystals. During aging, intermetallics compound phase grows (page 6). The structure was observed with STEM. The structure had fine columnar crystals with an average particle diameter of 40 μm or less. The parent phase is an equiaxed crystal with an average particle diameter of 60 μm. Fine particles were generated in the matrix crystals (page 8). Though WO ‘577 does not specifically teach the dislocation of higher surface density as claimed, where the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure or composition, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established. See MPEP 2112.01.
Regarding Claim 7, WO ‘577 teaches fine particles with an average particle diameter of 100 nm or less were generated in the matrix crystals, and Ni and Ti were more concentrated than the matrix crystals (page 8).
Regarding Claim 8, WO ‘577 teaches very small grains of 100 nm or smaller that are dispersed in matrix crystals before the high-entropy alloy is surface treated.
Regarding Claim 9, WO ‘577 in view of Yalamanchili et al is applied as discussed above. Further, WO ‘577 teaches the alloy is used for the impeller of a fluid machine and an impeller in a centrifugal compressor (page 10).
Claims 5 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN 103173716 B, based on the machine translation.
CN 103173716 B (CN ‘716) teaches a coating comprising NiCoFeCrTi high-entropy alloy material with equimolar proportions of each metal [0022], which reads on up 25 atomic % each, and Al [0013] or Si [0015]. With radio frequency magnetron sputtering, a high-entropy nitride thin film coating is sputtered onto a cemented carbide substrate to form (NiCoFeCrTi)xAlyN, where 0 < x < 1 and 0 < y < [0028] or (NiCoFeCrTi)xSiyN, where 0 < x < 1 and 0 < y < [0034]. However, CN ‘716 does not teach the Rockwell hardness as claimed. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the high-entropy alloy coating of CN ‘716 would read on the claimed Rockwell hardness, since where the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure or composition, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established. See MPEP 2112.01. In this case, the prior art produce is substantially identical in structure and composition.
Regarding Claim 9, CN ‘716 is applied as discussed above. CN ‘716 further teaches the coating is used for high-speed cutting, hard cutting, dry cutting, and repeated friction and wear [0005] and for tooling and dies [0018].
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-9 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Tima M. McGuthry-Banks whose telephone number is (571)272-2744. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 7:30 am to 4:00 pm.
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Tima M. McGuthry-Banks
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1733
/TIMA M. MCGUTHRY-BANKS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1733