Appeal No. 2001-0773
Application No. 09/200,421
We have discovered that an alumina ceramic
material which is highly resistant to fluorine plasmas
can be produced by lengthening the time of firing an
alumina green body from the conventional time of about
4 hours to about 8 to 12 hours, without the need for
altering the composition of the green body or any other
sintering process parameters, such as the sintering
temperature, which may affect the sintering mechanism
[paragraph bridging pages 4 and 5].
Appealed claims 15, 17, 20, 30 and 31 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 102 or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Rhodes, Heytmeijer, Takahashi, Rzywucki
or JP '946. Also, claims 27, 30 and 31 stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 102 or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Rzywucki or Bennison.
We have thoroughly reviewed the respective positions
advanced by appellants and the examiner. In so doing, we find
that the examiner has not established a prima facie case of
anticipation/obviousness for the claimed subject matter.
Accordingly, we will not sustain the examiner's rejections.
Each of the references applied by the examiner discloses an
alumina ceramic body formed by sintering a green body comprising
alumina and a binder. However, as urged by appellants and
acknowledged by the examiner, none of the references teaches that
less than 0.1% of the surface area of the ceramic body comprises
unsintered particles, as presently claimed. Indeed, the
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