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 with traverse of claims 9-12 in the reply filed on 2/5/26 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Hall does not disclose the technical feature. This is not found persuasive because this is merely a conclusory statement and does not allege any specific limitations that are missing. Additionally, this feature would be anticipated as demonstrated by the rejection below.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 1-8, 13-14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 2/5/26.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hall (US 2018/0362413).
As to claim 9, Hall teaches a method for manufacturing a CMC composite part, comprising the steps of: - providing an intermediate part (14a) according to any one of an intermediate part made from CMC composite material, having at least one working area (the external surface) intended, once the part has been finalized, to be in contact with a working fluid of a turbomachine [0036] (however this merely describes an intended use and not an actual structural component of the intermediate part), comprising a reinforcement (12), a matrix (18), including a ceramic material [0037], and at least one insert (14a), which is made from a material different from that of the reinforcement (12) and the matrix and having a diameter comprised between 0.1 and 1 mm [0042] and which is designed to promote migration of liquid silicon within the intermediate part during a step of densifying the intermediate part, in which said at least one insert is provided in an area of the intermediate part that is not a working area [0056, 0042, 0052-0054] as explained above and densifying the intermediate part by penetration of liquid silicon into the intermediate part [0056].
As to claim 10, Hall teaches the step of providing the intermediate part comprises a step of weaving a preform, the weaving step comprising the simultaneous three- dimensional weaving of two types of fibers the materials of which are different, the first type of fiber forming the three-dimensional structure of the preform intended to form the reinforcement of the intermediate part and the second type of fiber forming at least one insert of the intermediate part [0039, Fig 3].
As to claim 11, Hall teaches comprising, during the densification step, a sub-step of controllably cooling the intermediate part, and a. in which a homogeneous temperature is imposed on the entire intermediate part during the cooling sub-step [0056, 0069].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over by Hall (US 2018/0362413) in view of Corman (US 5952100).
As to claim 12, Hall does not explicitly state the cooling sub-step comprises at least one cooling ramp of less than 50C/min.
Corman teaches a fiber reinforced silicon-silicon carbide matrix composite wherein silicon melt infiltration includes a cooling period wherein the cooling occurs at 3 C/min and then at a rate of 5 C/min [col 8 line 9-36] as this avoids thermal cracking and provides protection in dry and wet environments at high temperatures [col 2 line 56-67, col 1 line 45-55]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have altered the invention of Hall and had a cooling ramp period of 3 C/min or 5 C/min, as suggested by Corman, in order to avoids thermal cracking and provides protection in dry and wet environments at high temperatures.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARMAND MELENDEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-0342. The examiner can normally be reached 9 AM- 6 PM Monday-Friday.
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/ARMAND MELENDEZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
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