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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim of priority of this application as a 35 U.S.C. §120 divisional of U.S. Serial No. 16/536,742, filed Aug. 9, 2019 (now U.S. Patent 12,071,378 B2), is hereby acknowledged.
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.
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 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. §102(a)(1) as anticipated by Rice (USPN 4,642,271 to Rice et al., issued Feb. 10, 1987).
Rice discloses fabricating a ceramic fiber composite comprising ceramic fibers coated with boron nitride (boron atom bonded to nitrogen atom) (“peripheral composition”), wherein the boron nitride coating is embedded in a ceramic matrix (“core composition), wherein the boron nitride coating maintains high coherence to the fibers thereby limiting bonding and chemical reactions between fibers and the ceramic matrix, and wherein the boron nitride coating remains stable at high temperatures higher than the coatings’ melting point so that superior strength and toughness characteristics are retained in high temperature process/environments (abstract; col. 1, line 50 to col. 2, line 6; Figs. 2-4 of Rice, present claims 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11-13).
Rice further discloses that a wide variety of ceramic matrix compositions can be used, such as, inter alia, silicon carbide (SiC), aluminum oxide (alumina), zirconium oxide (zirconia) and zirconium titanate (zirconium and titanium are “refractory metals”), wherein the examples contain one of three types of fiber silicon carbide, alumina or zirconia (col. 2, line 52 to col. 3, line 15; col. 3, lines 20-47; Figs. 3-6 of Rice (present claims 2-7, 10-12 and 14).
Rice also discloses preparing composites with alumina-based fibers that demonstrate the advantage of using the fiber coatings to provide enhanced strength and significantly increased toughness as evidenced by the increased area under the load deflection characteristics curves of a composite in Fig. 4 (col. 4, line 56 to col. 5, line 35, Table I, Fig. 4; claims 1 and 7-9 of Rice). For example, Curve 22 in FIG. 4 shows the enhanced load-deflection characteristics of a composite with boron nitride (BN) coated aluminum oxide (alumina) based fibers in a SiC matrix.
Thus, the instant claims are anticipated by Rice.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN J FIGUEROA whose telephone number is (571)272-8916. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30 am -6:00 pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JOSEPH DEL SOLE can be reached on 571-272-1130. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHN J FIGUEROA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
August 8, 2026
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