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 .
Withdrawn Rejections
The 35 U.S.C. §103, rejection(s) of claims 1, 3-4, 12, 14-16, made of record in the office action mailed on 01/27/2026, page 2 have been withdrawn due to Applicant’s arguments in the response filed on 04/10/2026.
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(s) 1, 3-4, 12, 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Keller et al. (US 2013/0237403) in view of Juma et al. (CN 1225079).
Regarding claims 1, 3-4, 12, 14-16 Keller discloses formation of boron carbide-boron nitride carbon composition (title). Keller discloses when the elemental boron and carbon precursor composition are heated in a nitrogen atmosphere, boron nitride nanoparticles form as a layer on the exterior portion of the ceramics (para 0031). FIG. 2 schematically illustrates boron particles 10 embedded in a thermoset matrix 20) (para 0016). Keller discloses composition comprising: boron; and an organic component selected from: an organic compound having a char yield of at least 60% by weight; and a thermoset made from the organic compound (claim 10). The organic compound is 1,2,4,5-tetrakis(phenylethynyl)benzene or a prepolymer thereof (claim 12). Keller discloses the composition comprises fibers, carbon fibers, ceramic fibers, or metal fibers (claim 13), where ceramic fibers correspond to the filler of present invention. Keller teaches embodiments wherein the composition comprises, in the carbonaceous matrix, boron nitride along with said boron carbide. Keller teaches a composition comprising a nanoparticulate carbide along with a nitride filler. As seen in figure 2, the composition comprising metal component and an thermoset made from organic compound is present on two layers of the ceramic as it is 3 dimensional, so 2 layers can be clearly seen in the figure 2.
However, Keller fails to disclose that ceramic fibers (i.e. filler) is selected from aluminum oxide, boron nitride, graphene nanoplatelets.
Whereas, Juma discloses ceramic composition, such a composition processing and casting of the steel has a special value, such as for manufacturing casting port and the protecting bush material, continuous casting of the composition mixture with particles of boron nitride, zirconium diboride and at least one other refractory material, and resin or an organic adhesive such as asphalt produced by decomposing carbon glued together. other refractory material may be, for example, refractory metal, oxide, carbide, boride or nitride (abstract). The refractory metal may be, for example, boron (page 2). Juma discloses ceramic composition, wherein the composition containing boron nitride, zirconium diboride and at least one granular mixture of other refractory substance, and the organic binder produced by decomposing carbon glued together (claim 1). Juma discloses at least one refractory material is refractory metal, oxide, carbide, boride or nitride. The ceramic composition according to claim 2, wherein, the refractory metal is boron. The ceramic composition according to claim 2, wherein, the oxide is one or several kinds of aluminium oxide (claims 2-4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to include aluminum oxide of Juma in the of boron carbide-boron nitride carbon composition of Keller motivated by the desire to have erosion resistant properties (page 3).
Claim(s) 2 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Keller et al. (US 2013/0237403) in view of Juma et al. (CN 1225079) as applied to claims 1 and 12, further in view of Flaschberger et al. (US 2016/0023328).
Regarding claims 2 and 13, Keller in view of Juma fails to disclose that the metal component is tungsten, hafnium, zirconium, vanadium.
Whereas, Flaschberger discloses bonded abrasive article comprising shaped abrasive particles and a bonding medium comprising a vitreous bond (abstract). The shaped abrasive particles used in the present invention can typically be made using tools (i.e., molds), cut using diamond tooling, which provides higher feature definition than other fabrication alternatives such as, for example, stamping or punching (para 0269). Specific examples of suitable abrasive materials include known ceramic materials, carbides, nitrides and other hard and superhard materials such as aluminum oxide (for example alpha alumina) materials (including fused, heat treated, ceramic and sintered aluminum oxide materials), silicon carbide, titanium diboride, titanium nitride, boron carbide, tungsten carbide, titanium carbide, diamond, cubic boron nitride (CBN), zirconium oxide, titanium oxide or a combination thereof (para 0106).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to include tungsten carbide, titanium carbide, zirconium oxide as taught by Flaschberger in the composition of Keller motivated by the desire to have high precision grinding properties.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 04/10/2026 have been fully considered, but they are moot in view of new grounds of rejections as stated above.
Conclusion
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/RONAK C PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788
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