zirconium, in lieu of boron nitride, on the fibers of the
fiber reinforced composite described in Borom or Singh. See
the amended Brief, pages 8-12.
The dispositive question is, therefore, whether it would
have been obvious to deposit the nitride of aluminum,
zirconium, or hafnium, in lieu of boron nitride, on the fibers
of the fiber reinforced composite described in Borom or Singh.
We answer this question in the negative.
We observe that both Borom and Singh employ a boron
nitride coating on the fibers to prevent or substantially
prevent reaction between the fibrous material and the
infiltrating silicon. See Borom, column 3, lines 58-66 and
Singh, column 4, lines 3-17. Rousseau, however, does not
teach that the nitride of aluminum, zirconium or hafnium is
equivalent to boron nitride for the purpose of preventing
reaction between the fibrous material and the infiltrating
silicon. See column 3, lines 5-15. In fact, we observe that
Rousseau teaches away from using the nitrides involved in an
environment where molten silicon (infiltrating silicon) is
involved. See column 3, line 20. Absent the appellants' own
teachings, we can think of no cogent reason why one of
ordinary skill in this art would have been motivated to employ
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