US 8642491

Here's a concise summary of US Patent 8642491:

Title: Fining of boroalumino silicate glasses

Assignee: Corning Inc. (Current Assignee is listed as Corning Incorporated as of 2024-04-17 and 2025-01-13 reassignments).

Inventors: Adam J. G. Ellison

Filing Date: 2010-12-10 (Application number US12/965,032)

Issue Date: 2014-02-04 (Publication date)

Abstract: Glasses are disclosed which can be used to produce substrates for flat panel display devices, such as active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs). The glasses have MgO concentrations in the range from 1.0 mole percent to 3.0 mole percent and Σ[RO]/[Al2O3] ratios greater than or equal to 1.00, where [Al2O3] is the mole percent of Al2O3 and Σ[RO] equals the sum of the mole percents of MgO, CaO, SrO, and BaO. These compositional characteristics have been found to improve the melting properties of batch materials used to produce the glass, which, in turn, allows the glasses to be fined (refined) with more environmentally friendly fining agents, such as tin as opposed to arsenic and/or antimony.

Plain-Language Overview of Independent Claims:

• Claim 1: This claim describes an alkali-free glass composition specifically for use in a downdraw process. The glass must contain certain mole percentages of SiO2 (64.0-71.0), Al2O3 (9.0-12.0), B2O3 (7.0-12.0), MgO (1.0-3.0), CaO (6.0-11.5), SrO (0-2.0), and BaO (0-0.1). Key to the invention, the ratio of the sum of the alkaline earth oxides (MgO, CaO, SrO, BaO, denoted as Σ[RO]) to Al2O3 must be greater than or equal to 1.00. Furthermore, the glass is characterized by being substantially free of arsenic (at most 0.05 mole percent As2O3) and antimony (at most 0.05 mole percent Sb2O3), and it must contain at least 0.01 mole percent SnO2 (tin oxide). Finally, the glass must exhibit a high liquidus viscosity, specifically greater than or equal to 100,000 poise.

• Claim 13: This claim focuses on an alkali-free glass sheet produced by a downdraw process. The glass sheet comprises a glass composition containing SiO2, Al2O3, B2O3, MgO, and CaO. Similar to Claim 1, the glass must have a Σ[RO]/[Al2O3] ratio greater than or equal to 1.0, and an MgO content greater than or equal to 1.0 mole percent. This glass sheet is further defined by being even more substantially free of arsenic (at most 0.005 mole percent As2O3) and antimony (at most 0.005 mole percent Sb2O3), while still containing at least 0.01 mole percent SnO2. It also requires a liquidus viscosity greater than or equal to 100,000 poise.

Regarding CAFC 2026 dockets for US patent 8642491, the provided patent text notes "Family has litigation" and links to external litigation datasets (Darts-ip and Unified Patents) for general litigation information related to the patent family. However, specific dockets for the year 2026 in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) for this patent were not found within the provided information. A direct live search of CAFC 2026 dockets would be required to definitively confirm the presence or absence of such cases.