Appeal No. 2000-0119
Application 08/785,711
other claim remaining in the application, has been identified by
the examiner as containing allowable subject matter and is
indicated to be allowable if rewritten in independent form
including all the limitations of the base claim and any
intervening claims. Claims 1 through 7 and 12 have been
canceled.
Appellants’ invention is directed to a process for
the production of fragmented ceramic that is comminuted via an
explosive expansion of a fluid (e.g., liquid nitrogen) impreg-
nated into the pores of the ceramic material. More particularly,
on page 2 of the specification, appellants describe a preferred
process as comprising
immersing a porous ceramic material in a
liquid that is gaseous at normal temperatures
and pressures for a time sufficient for the
pores of the ceramic material to be at least
partially occupied by the liquid, then
removing the particles from the liquid and
then rapidly exposing them to conditions of
temperature and/or pressure at which the
liquid is a gas. This generates the required
internal pressures essentially instanta-
neously and causes fragmentation of the
particles.
2
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