Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim
101 words
Process of producing porous, silica-rich fibers with good porosity from alkali metal-borosilicate glass fibers without the need for alkali leaching of the glass fibers characterized by: a. forming glass fibers to have an alkali metal borosilicate glass composition having in weight percent about 40 to about 60 boron-containing components, and at least 25 to about 80 silica and about 1 to about 12 alkali metal oxide, b. water leaching the glass fibers to extract the nonsilicaceous materials to produce the porous, silica-rich fibers having a pore volume up to 1.2 cc/gm and a mean pore diameter of up to 3,000 Angstroms.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
101 words
Process of producing porous, silica-rich fibers with good porosity from alkali metal-borosilicate glass fibers without the need for alkali leaching of the glass fibers characterized by: a. forming glass fibers to have an alkali metal borosilicate glass composition having in weight percent about 40 to about 60 boron-containing components, and at least 25 to about 80 silica and about 1 to about 12 alkali metal oxide, b. water leaching the glass fibers to extract the nonsilicaceous materials to produce the porous, silica-rich fibers having a pore volume up to 1.2 cc/gm and a mean pore diameter of up to 3,000 Angstroms.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
50 words
Process of Claim 1, wherein the glass fibers are formed to also have minor amounts of alkaline earth metal oxides selected from divalent oxides of calcium and magnesium, aluminum oxide, metal oxides of Group IV of the Periodic Chart or mixtures thereof and trace amounts of fluorine, and ferric oxide.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
32 words
Process of Claims 1-2, wherein the water leaching is conducted at a temperature in the range of 80 to 100°C for a time of around 1 hour to more than 24 hours.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
27 words
Process of Claims 1-3, wherein the fibers are formed to have a diameter of from around 1 micron to over 250 microns to constitute capillaries and tubes.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
25 words
Process of Claims 1-4, wherein the glass fibers are formed to have a length ranging from less than 1/4 inch (0.64 cm) to continuous lengths.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
22 words
Process of Claims 1-5, wherein the glass fibers are formed into hollow fibers having a K factor of up to about 0.9.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
13 words
Process of Claims 1-6, which includes acid leaching the water leached glass fibers.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
47 words
Process of Claim 7, wherein the acid leaching is conducted in dilute acid solutions of acids other than hydrofluoric or phosphoric acids at a temperature in the range of about 80 to about 100°C and for a time of less than 1 hour to around 6 hours.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
38 words
Process of Claims 1-8 which includes heat treating the formed glass fibers at a temperature in the range of 420 to 480°C to phase separate the boron-rich phase and the silica-rich phase before the fibers are water leached.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
17 words
Process of Claims 1-9, wherein forming of the glass fibers occurs in an environment of limited moisture.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
78 words
Process of Claims 1-10, wherein in forming the glass fibers, the glass fibers are sized with a carbonaceous containing sizing composition, the sized glass fibers are heat treated at a temperature in the range of around 420 to around 600°C for phase separate the boron-rich phase from the silica-rich phase, the heat treated glass fibers are leached with water or acid or a mixture thereof, the porous, silica-rich fibers are heat treated to oxidize any residual carbonaceous material.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
39 words
Process of Claims 1-11, wherein the glass fibers are formed to have a boron oxide content of around 54 weight percent, a silica content of around 38 weight percent and a sodium oxide content of around 8 weight percent.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
73 words
Process of Claims 1-12, wherein forming the porous, silica-rich fibers includes: a. attenuating the glass fibers in a limited moisture environment, b. gathering the fibers into at least one strand, c. collecting the at least one or more strand in a multilayered package on a winder, and d. removing the multiple layers of at least one glass fiber strand from at least one package to maintain an approximate parallel alignment between the fibers.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
10 words
Porous, silica-rich fibers produced by the processes of Claims 1-13.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
52 words
Porous, silica-rich fibers produced by the process of Claims 1-13, where the fibers have a pore volume of 0.2 to 1.2 cc/gm and a pore diameter up to 3,000 Angstroms having substantially the same amount of silica as was present in the glass fibers from which the porous silica-rich fibers were produced.