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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-3 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsubara (US 2020/0030862 A1) in view of Nakamura (US 20130078031 A1), Fukushima (JP 2016052680 A), and Nakai (US 20050000951 A1).
Claim 1. Matsubara discloses a laser welding method for Si-containing steel sheets (laser welding Si-steel sheet, Fig. 1, par. 31) in which, when Si-containing steel sheets are passed through a continuous processing line (steel sheets are passed along a continuous processing line, Fig. 1, par. 2 and 31), a tail end of a preceding steel sheet and a leading end of a succeeding steel sheet are placed in contact with each other on a line entry side (preceding and succeeding steel strip’s butt end are in contact and welded, par. 31), and
wherein the Si-containing steel sheets contain more than 1.0 mass% of Si (Si 3.3 mass %, par. 31), and
Matsubara does not disclose a filler wire is supplied to a contact part, laser is applied and the filler wire is melted and solidified to weld the Si-containing steel sheets together,
wherein a shielding gas containing a He gas or an Ar gas and further containing at least one type selected from a CO2 gas and an N2 gas by 10 vol% or higher and 30 vol% or lower in total is injected to a front surface and a back surface of the contact part to achieve hardness of welded metal HV0.2 of 350 or lower.
Nakamura discloses a hybrid laser welding method that produces ultrahigh-strength welded joint (par. 1) wherein the laser welds a steel plate containing Si (par. 27), while a filler wire is supplied to a contact part, laser is applied and a filler is melted and solidified to weld the Si-containing steel sheets together (hybrid laser welder with a filler wire is used to weld, par. 24; where the filler wire is supplied to the weld portion, Fig. 1),
wherein a shielding gas containing a He gas or an Ar gas and further containing at least one type selected from a CO2 gas and an N2 gas by 10 vol% or higher and 30 vol% or lower in total (5% to 25% CO2 gas is mixed with Ar gas or He gas and is used to shield the weld, par. 176) is injected to a front surface (shielding gas is applied to the welding portion, which is part of a surface, par. 176).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Matsubara to incorporate the teachings of Nakamura and provide a hybrid laser welding method that uses gas shielded arc welding. Doing so would have the benefit of forming an ultrahigh-strength weld (par. 1, Nakamura).
Matsubara in view of Nakamura does not disclose a back surface of a part being welded to achieve hardness of welded metal HV0.2 of 350 or lower and that the gas percentage is in vol %.
Fukushima discloses a laser welding method of steel plates wherein the steel plates are on a continuous steel sheet production line and joined by butt welding (par. 2), wherein Ar or He shielding gas are applied on a top surface and bottom surface of the weld (side gas G2 and back gas G3, Fig. 5, par. 23).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Matsubara in view of Nakamura to incorporate the teachings of Fukushima and process the steel sheets on a production line and apply shield gas to the top and bottom surface of the welding portion. Doing so would have the benefit of welding a continuous lines of steel sheet in a high production process (par. 2, Fukushima) and apply gas onto the top and bottom surface of the weld to prevent oxidation of the molten weld metal (par. 3, Fukushima).
Matsubara in view of Nakamura and Fukushima does not explicitly disclose that the gas mixture is in vol %.
Nakai discloses a laser welding steel sheets wherein the shielding gas is Ar gas mixed with a vol % of CO2 (par. 113).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Matsubara in view of Nakamura and Fukushima to have used vol % in determining the amount of CO2 to mix with Ar or He gas as disclosed by Nakai.
The resulting combination of prior art will read on the claimed resulting hardness of the welded metal because the combined prior art reads on all the limitation of the method claim.
Claim 2. Matsubara in view of Nakamura, Fukushima, and Nakai discloses the laser welding method for Si-containing steel sheets according to claim 1, wherein the filler wire is a wire that contains 0.5 mass % or lower Si (flux-cored wire has a composition of Si that is 1.5% or less, claim 4, Nakamura).
Claim 3. Matsubara discloses a laser welding apparatus for Si-containing steel sheets (laser welding Si-steel sheet, Fig. 1, par. 31), the Si-containing steel sheets containing more than 1.0 mass% of Si (Si 3.3 mass %, par. 31), the laser welding apparatus comprising:
a laser irradiation unit (laser welding machine, par. 31) that irradiates a contact part of Si-containing steel sheets (laser welds the weld joint 3, Fig. 1) with laser emitted
Matsubara does not disclose a laser oscillator, a filler wire supply device that supplies a filler wire to the contact part;
a shielding gas injector that shields the contact part by injecting a shielding gas composed mainly of He or Ar to front and back surfaces of the contact part; and
a control unit that controls the laser irradiation unit, the filler wire supply device, and the shielding gas injector,
wherein the control unit functions to control the shielding gas composed mainly of He or Ar to contain at least one type selected from a CO2 gas and an N2 gas by 10 vol% or higher and 30 vol% or lower in total.
Nakamura discloses a hybrid laser welding method that produces ultrahigh-strength welded joint (par. 1) wherein the laser welds a steel plate containing Si (par. 27), a laser irradiation unit that irradiates a contact part of Si-containing steel sheets with laser emitted from a laser oscillator (hybrid laser welder with a filler wire is used to weld, par. 24);
a filler wire to the contact part (hybrid laser welding with a filler wire is used to weld, par. 24; where the filler wire is supplied to the weld portion, Fig. 1);
injecting a shielding gas composed mainly of He or Ar to front of the contact part (Ar gas or He gas and is used to shield the weld, par. 176); and
wherein the the shielding gas composed mainly of He or to contain at least one type selected from a CO2 gas and an N2 gas by 10 vol% or higher and vol% or lower in total (5% to 25% CO2 gas is mixed with Ar gas or He gas and is used to shield the weld, par. 176).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Matsubara to incorporate the teachings of Nakamura and provide a hybrid laser welding method that uses gas shielded arc welding. Doing so would have the benefit of forming an ultrahigh-strength weld (par. 1, Nakamura).
Matsubara in view of Nakamura does not explicitly disclose the laser welder has a laser oscillator, a filler wire supply device, a shielding gas injector, a control unit that controls the laser irradiation unit, filler wire supply device, and shielding gas injector, or that the shielding gas is supplied to the back surface of the contact part.
Fukushima discloses a laser welding method of steel plates wherein the welding apparatus has a laser oscillator 2 (Fig. 5), the steel plates are on a continuous steel sheet production line, a filler wire supply device 5 (Fig. 5) supplies a wire for welding (par. 22), multiple shielding gas injectors (par. 23, Fig. 5), a control unit 6 to control the different components (par. 21), and the multiple shielding gas injectors apply gas to the top and bottom surface of the weld (side gas G2 and back gas G3, Fig. 5, par. 23).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Matsubara in view of Nakamura to incorporate the teachings of Fukushima and process the steel sheets on a production line and apply shield gas to the top and bottom surface of the welding portion. Doing so would have the benefit of controlling the welding process using a control unit and preventing oxidation of the molten weld metal (par. 3, Fukushima).
Matsubara in view of Nakamura and Fukushima does not explicitly disclose that the gas mixture is in vol %.
Nakai discloses a laser welding steel sheets wherein the shielding gas is Ar gas mixed with a vol % of CO2 (par. 113).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Matsubara in view of Nakamura and Fukushima to have used vol % in determining the amount of CO2 to mix with Ar or He gas as disclosed by Nakai.
The resulting combination of prior art will read on the claimed resulting hardness of the welded metal because the combined prior art reads on all the limitation of the method claim.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIMPSON A CHEN whose telephone number is (571)272-6422. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8-5.
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/SIMPSON A CHEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/ELIZABETH M KERR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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