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 .
This application is a 371 of PCT/FR2022/052355 12/14/2022 with FOREIGN APPLICATIONS: FRANCE 2113492 12/15/2021.
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-13 remain for examination, wherein claim 1 is an independent claim.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-6 and 8-11 are objected to because of the following informalities: all of the “-“ in the instant claims should be deleted.
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: 1) the “et” on line 8 should be deleted; 2) “balance with nickel with impurities” is suggested to be added in the limitation.
Claims 6 and 11 are objected to because of the following informalities: “M23C6type” need proper space between “M23C6” and “type”. Proper amendment is necessary.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 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.
Claims 1-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Feng et al (US-PG-pub 2014/0314618 A1, corresponding US 10266926 B2, thereafter PG’618).
Regarding claims 1-3, 7-8, and 12-13, PG’618 teaches a cast nickel-base superalloy that includes iron added substitutionally for nickel for turbine application: turbine buckets or airfoils in the turbine section of the engine (Abstract, par.[0023]-[0026] of PG’618), which reads on the Ni-based alloy in the instant claims and turbine casing application (cl.7 and 12-13). The comparison between the claimed alloy composition ranges in claims 1-3 and 8 and those disclosed by the PG’618 (abstract and par.[0007] of PG’618) is listed in the following table. All of the essential alloy composition ranges disclosed by PG’618 overlap the claimed alloy composition ranges as recited in the instant claims, which creates a prima facie case of obviousness. MPEP 2144 05 I. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to optimize the alloy composition ranges including Co, Cr, Al, Ti, Ta, C, B, Zr, Mo, Fe, W, Nb, and Ni from the disclosures on PG’618 since PG’618 teaches the same Ni-based alloy as claimed for the same casting turbine application throughout whole disclosing range.
Element
From instant Claims 1-3 and 8 (wt%)
From PG’618 (wt %)
Overlapping range
(wt %)
Co
4.0-20.0
7.5-19.1
7.5-19.1
Cr
14.0-18.5
7-22.5
14.0-18.5
Al
1.8-2.6 (cl.1)
2.0-2.5 (cl.3,8)
1.2-6.2
1.8-2.6 (cl.1)
2.0-2.5 (cl.3,8)
Ti
1.3-1.9 (cl.1)
1.4-1.8 (cl.3,8)
Up to 5
1.3-1.9 (cl.1)
1.4-1.8 (cl.3,8)
Ta
5.5-6.5 (cl.1)
5.7-6.4 (cl.3,8)
Up to 6,5
5.5-6.5 (cl.1)
5.7-6.4 (cl.3,8)
C
0.01-0.10 (cl.1)
0.02-0.05 (cl.2)
0.05-0.18
0.05-0.10 (cl.1)
0.05 (cl.2)
B
0.003-0.02
0.004-0.015
0.004-0.015
Zr
0.01-0.10
Up to 0.1
0.01-0.10
Mo
0-5.0
Up to 4
0-4
Fe
0-5.0
1-6
1-5.0
W
0-9.0
2-6
2-6
Nb
0-1.0
Up to 1
0-1.0
Ni
Balance
Balance with impurities
Balance with impurities
Regarding claims 4 and 9-10, PG’618 teaches casting, machining, and applying heat treatment (par.[0003] and [0036] of PG’618), which reads on the claimed process steps as claimed in the instant claims.
Regarding claims 5-6 and 11, PG’618 specify that the precipitates may be further aged or coarsened in the temperature range of 1350-1600oF (732-871oC—Noted by the Examiner) for a suitable time to provide precipitates of a predetermined size. And the solutioning temperature will vary based on the composition of the specific alloy. (par.[0036] of PG’618). The Temperature of heat treatment overlaps the claimed temperature ranges as recited in the instant claims 6 and 11, which creates a prima facie case of obviousness. MPEP 2144 05 I. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to optimize heating temperature from the disclosures on PG’618 since PG’618 teaches the same Ni-based alloy as claimed for the same casting turbine application throughout whole disclosing range. The claimed g’ super-solvus and g’ sub-solvus (cl.5) and precipitated M23C6 type carbide (cl.6 and 11) are recognized as the features of Ni-based alloy fully depended on the alloy composition and heat treatment. PG’618 teaches the similar Ni-based alloy treated by the similar heat treatment parameters, the claimed g’ super-solvus and g’ sub-solvus (cl.5) and precipitated M23C6 type carbide (cl.6 and 11) would be highly expected in the Ni based alloy of PG’618. MPEP 2112 01 and 2145 II.
Claims 6 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over PG’618 in view of Nonomura et al (US-PG-pub 2002/0053376 A1, thereafter PG’376).
Regarding claims 6 and 11, PG’618 teaches forming carbide on grain boundary (par.[0030] of PG’618). PG’618 does not specify the forming of M23C6 type carbide as claimed in the instant claims. PG’376 teaches a Ni-based alloy having sulfidation-corrosion resistance used for component members of corrosion-resistant high-temperature equipment (Abstract, examples, and claims of PG’376) for turbine application (par.[0002] and [0054] of PG’376). All of the essential alloy composition ranges disclosed by PG’376 (Abstract, examples, and claims of pG’376) overlap the claimed alloy composition ranges. MPEP 2144 05 I. PG’376 teaches forming a large amount of M23C6 type carbides precipitates in the grain boundaries (Fig.1 and par.[0030]-[0032] and [0044]-[0045] of PG’376). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to form M23C6 type carbides precipitates in the Ni-based alloy as demonstrated by PG’376in the alloy of PG’618 since both PG’376 and PG’618 teaches the same Ni-based alloy as claimed for the same turbine casing application as claimed throughout whole disclosing range.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIE YANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1884. The examiner can normally be reached on IFP.
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/JIE YANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734
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