Appeal no. 97-1293
Application no. 08/281,812
claims pending in the application.
Claim 1, the only independent claim, is illustrative of the subject matter on appeal
and reads as follows:
A method of preparing a sintered titanium diboride body comprising:
(a) mixing components comprising titanium diboride powder and at least
10 % by weight preceramic organosilicon polymer to form a uniform
mixture, wherein the preceramic organosilicon polymer is one which
provides a char containing silicon and carbon and the carbon is
present in at least a stoichiometric amount based on the silicon
content;
forming the uniform mixture into a desired shape to obtain a handleable
green body; and
sintering the handleable green body in an inert atmosphere at a temperature
greater than 2000EC to obtain a sintered body with a density greater
3
than about 4.0 g/cm .
The references relied upon by the examiner are:
Lukacs, III (Lukacs) 5,190,709 Mar. 2, 1993
Yajima et al. (Yajima) 4,289,720 Sept. 15, 1981
Claims 1-10 stand rejected under 35 USC § 103(a). As evidence of obviousness,
the examiner relies on Lukacs and Yajima. We reverse.
Discussion
1. The claims
Claim 1 is directed to a method of preparing a sintered titanium diboride body
comprising the steps of mixing titanium diboride powder and preceramic organosilicon
polymer to form a uniform mixture, shaping the uniform mixture to obtain a handleable
2
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007