Appeal 2007-0882
Application 10/702,987
1. A method for repairing a nickel-base superalloy article
comprising the steps of
providing the nickel-base superalloy article that has previously been
in service; and
applying a restoration to a surface of the article by the steps of
providing a restoration nickel-base superalloy different from that of
the nickel-base superalloy article, thereafter
applying a restoration coating of the restoration nickel-base superalloy
to the surface of the article by a hyper-velocity oxyfuel metal spray process
or a low-pressure plasma spray process, and thereafter
heating the article with the restoration coating applied to the surface
thereof to a sufficiently high temperature to diffusion bond the restoration
coating to the surface of the article.
The Examiner relies on the following prior art references to show
unpatentability:
White US 5,732,467 Mar. 31, 1998
Bajan US 2005/0036892 A1 Feb. 17, 2005
The Examiner made the following rejections:
1. Claims 1-11, 13-18, and 21 under 35 U.S.C § 103(a) as
unpatentable over White.
2. Claims 12 and 19 under 35 U.S.C § 103(a) as unpatentable
over White in view of Bajan.
ISSUES
The Examiner contends that it would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify White’s
process to achieve the invention as claimed. Appellants contend that the
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