PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15874949
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-01
Publication Date: 2018-05
Patent Classification: ["428", "480000"]

Abstract:
A carrier film of thermoplastic polyester has releasable metal adhesive properties suitable for a metal transfer in which the polyester film is metalized and the metal layer is subsequently transferred to a permanent adhesive-coated substrate. The metal layer is in direct contact with the polyester carrier film and no intermediate release layer is present. Desired metal adhesion is provided by dispersing an suitable surfactant, and optionally, a hydrocarbon wax, uniformly into the polyester film. Surfactant on the outer surface of the carrier film modifies metal adhesion to the polyester such that the metal can be removed in a metal transfer operation.

Claim (Index 1):
A method of transferring a metal to a substrate comprising the steps of:\n (A) providing a metal transfer film consisting of (i) a carrier film having a thickness of about 4-75 \u03bcm and consisting essentially of a polyester and a release agent, in which the film comprises a core layer consisting essentially of polyester and a first skin layer coextensively adjacent in direct contact with one side of the core layer, a side of the first skin layer opposite the core layer defining a metal-contacting surface, said first skin layer consisting essentially of a polyester and a release agent; in which at least one of the core layer and the first skin layer each independently comprises a heterogeneous mixture of finely divided solid particles uniformly dispersed in a continuous phase of the polyester, and in which the solid particles in the film are present in concentration and size effective to provide the metal-contacting surface with roughness characterized by Ra at most about 50 nm and Sra at most about 30; in which the release agent comprises surfactant selected from the group consisting of anionic surfactant, non-ionic surfactant, about 0.1-1 wt % paraffin wax, and a mixture thereof, and is uniformly distributed in the polyester of the first skin layer in amount effective to provide the metal-contacting surface with a preselected adhesion value to a metal in the range of about 0.4-39 g/cm (1-100 g/in) measured by a 180 degree ethylene acrylic acid polymer peel test, and (ii) a transferable layer of the metal deposited in direct contact with the metal-contacting surface, the transferable layer having a metal thickness equivalent to an optical density in the range of about 0.2-4.0; (B) providing a substrate article having a surface coated with an adhesive layer; (C) contacting the transferable layer of the metal transfer film with the adhesive layer of the substrate such that the metal transfer film bonds to the adhesive layer of the substrate; and (D) stripping the carrier film from the metal layer, thereby transferring the metal onto the substrate.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 20.0
- Percentile: 86.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.77049
- Patent Class: 428.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: half
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['14586785', '13930395', '15050348', '15130974', '14795276']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8996773681991951
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5372618734382857
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.8634358187231042
- Mean Citation Score: 269.622268
- Max Citation Score: 360.51483
- Similarity Product: 309.5295739824128

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 0
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test