Patent ID: 7691224

Claim:
A thermal polymer-bonding method, the thermal polymer-bonding method for finally bonding a polymer-based component assembly, the thermal polymer-bonding method comprising the steps of: contacting polymer-based first and second solid media at a first junction, the first solid medium having a first melting point and the second solid medium having a second melting point, the first melting point being lesser in magnitude than the second melting point; thermally energizing the first junction to liquefy a first superficial portion of the first solid medium, the first superficial portion being superficially applied to the second solid medium via the contacting first and second solid media; separating the first solid medium from the first superficial portion thereby depositing a first liquid component in superficial adjacency to the first junction; thermally de-energizing the first liquid component at the first junction thereby solidifying the first superficial portion into a first component residue, the first component residue having a substantially uniform residue thickness, the second solid medium and the first component residue forming an intermediary component assembly; contacting the first component residue with a polymer-based third solid medium at a second junction, the third solid medium having a third melting point, the third melting point being lesser in magnitude than the second melting point, the second junction being separated from the first junction by the residue thickness; thermally energizing the second junction to liquefy at least one second superficial portion of the third solid medium and the first component residue, each liquefied second superficial portion increasing surface area contact intermediate the third solid medium and the first component residue; and thermally de-energizing each second superficial portion thereby solidifying said portion and thermally bonding the third solid medium to the first component residue to form a finally-bonded component assembly.