Cremain Memorial and Processes for Making Same

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a genuine Cremain memorial of deceased person or animal, and particularly to the method of forming the memorial into solid, durable objects and/or ornamental products.

BACKGROUND ART

Cremation or burial

Cremation has been used world wide for many centuries by many societies. The method of cremation has been traditionally practiced in eastern societies. In the recent years, the cremation practice is becoming more popular among western countries. In the United States, 42 percent were cremated in 2011, according to the funeral directors association. That is double the rate of just 15 years ago. In some states, largely in the West such as Nevada and Washington, the cremation rate reached over 70 percent.

In Far east countries with strong Confucian beliefs to respect the dead and visit their graves, millions have turned to cremation as a practical and cost-effective way to care for a loved one's remains. For instance, in a small, densely populated country like South Korea, space is very limited, so in 2000, the country's government initiated an aggressive pro-cremation campaign requiring anyone who chose to bury their dead, to remove the grave after 60 years. Largely as a result of these facts, only 3 out of 10 Koreans were buried in 2011.

More and more people are specifying in their wills that they wish to have their remains cremated, rather than requesting burial after they die. There are several reasons for this, among them the additional expense of burial, the ever-increasing amount of land taken up by cemeteries and burial plots, and the fact that their remains can no longer be practicably moved in the event their descendants relocate to another area. Cremation serves as a response to all of the aforementioned problems, but then introduces the problem of storage of the cremation remains or 'Cremain' of the deceased.

Cremain Memorials

After cremation , the 'Cremain' of the deceased are offered to his or her next of kin or family. Depending on factors such as family tradition and the religion of the deceased, the next of kin or family of the deceased may released them in a special are, typically as instructed by the deceased prior to his or her passing, such as on a hill side or field, or in the sea, or bury them in the ground, or otherwise may keep the ashes. It is generally considered customary for family or descendants to retain the Cremain in an urn or the like.

As disclosed in the prior art, Cremain can be memorialised as-is or in modified form. The as-is Cremain is fragile and has to be securely stored or skillfully encapsulated in order to prevent accidental and upsetting loss or contamination of its contents. The prior art contains numerous receptacles for holding and displaying cremation ashes. A few prior arts for storing as- is Cremain are listed below.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,727 discloses a cremation ashes storage and display container wherein the ashes are stored in a transparent plastic inner container. The container has a circular opening through which the ashes are inserted in the container, after which a cap is sealed over the opening by a bonding or welding process.

U.S.Pat.No. 5,755,116 discloses a bracelet or locket having a chamber or cavity in which remembrance items such as a locket of hair or cremation ashes can be permanently sealed.

U.S.Pat.No. 5,950,287 discloses a jewelry item for containing cremation ashes that can be formed as a locket, pendant or bracelet charm having a transparent face in which a photograph facing outwardly is placed, with the cremation ashes of a loved one placed in the locket behind the photograph, after which the Jocket is sealed. The cremation ashes and photograph are both visible through the transparent face of the jewelry item. The jewelry item apparently is not permanently sealed, however.

On the other hand, the modified Cremain allows for the possibility of forming the cremated remains into a variety of enduring materials, which can become part of a lasting and meaningful memorial to the deceased. Modifications of the Cremain are feasible due to the fact that fundamental chemical constituents of bone ash (calcium and phosphorous oxides) are, in fact, common raw materials used in the processing of various glass and ceramic materials. This represents a unique alternative to the standard and often uncomfortable practice of retaining the cremation remains indefinitely in an ornamental urn. A few prior arts relevant to production of Cremain incorporating objects are listed below.

As disclosed in U.S. Pat.No. 5,016,333, a portion of the cremation remains is mixed with a moldable material such as plaster composition, a wet ceramic mixture, or a porcelain product mixture. The moldable material is shaped to a designed figure, and the ash is permanently fixed in the shaped form when the moldable material hardens. Similarly, U.S. Pat.No. 6,200,507 discloses cremation remains fixed in a moldable resin material which fills a memorial urn.

U.S.Pat.No. 1,640,680 disclosed a method incorporating the ashes integrally in material of a permanent character and molded into an integral object. The ash may be mixed with clay in suitable proportions and the mixture molded and fired into suitable forms, which may be covered with colored glazes.

US2002/0025392A1 reveals a method or process of producing the memorial involves the formation of a vitreous (glassy) phase by firing the bone ash along with additional oxide materials to form a melt with the appropriate chemical composition which is cooled to form a ceramic and/or glassy solid. The material can be formed into the desired shape by casting from the melt and subsequent fabrication techniques such as cutting and polishing.

US6,615,463B1 discloses methods to incorporate or encapsulate bone ash from cremation process into solid objects containing glass, ceramics, clay based materials, or composites such as organic polymer matrix, metal matrix, or inorganic cementaceous matrix.

Although these modifed Cremain are more durable and can be more vividly displayed than the stored or encapsulated as-is Cremain, none of such modifications are genuinely made from 100% Cremain. They cannot epitomize the loved one. In addition, many individuals with human cremated remains would prefer the Cremain to be memorialized in a more genuine, portable, and permanent form so that it could be displayed and worth passing on to their future generation descendants.

The Cremain memorial appears unique to each individual, since its color and texture depends on the chemical composition of the ashes. For example, Cremain memorial of a young, healthy person may appear bluish green with vitreous luster, while Cremain memorial of an old- aged with long term disease-stricken person may appear yellowish and matt surface. The main objects of the present invention process is to density the uniform Cremain powder into genuine Cremain solid with negligible porosity. Ancillary objects is to illustrate methods to incorporate the Cremain memorial into jewelry setting and customized items.

Thus, the present invention offers a skillful means to convert the Cremain into a durable object that not only has spiritual and moral values, but it is appealing to the eyes and has also functional and decorative properties. SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention describes the conversion of cremated remains or 'Cremain' into durable solid objects that are beautiful, portable, and genuinely epitomize the loved one.

"Cremain memorial" in this invention truly represents the deceased. It is made of 100% ashes of the deceased using ceramic processing techniques without any additive that is traceable in final product. It is unique and can be identified with individual because its color and texture reflects the phase and composition of the Cremain. It is durable due to its negligible porosity and thus improved strength. When polished to vitreous luster, it is as beautiful as marble. It is portable when assemble the Cremain memorial on various items of daily personal or lifestyle accessories, such as pendant, brooch, ring, framed photo objects, key rings, etc.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

During cremation process, the deceased body is exposed to high temperature typically reach up to 1000°C for several hours. During this time water is vaporized at 100°C - 200°C, then all the organic elements are oxidized and eliminated at 600°C - 900°C. At higher temperature range, 900°C - 1 ,000°C, decomposition of water in hydroxyapatite (Ca ₅ (P0 ₄ ) ₃ OH), the main inorganic constituent of living bone, is believed to occur according to the reaction

Ca ₁₀ (PO ₄ ) ₆ (OH) ₂ --> 3Ca ₃ (P0 ₄ ) ₂ + CaO + H ₂ 0

Therefore, the cremated remains at the completion of the process, primarily broken fragments of bones and teeth, are essentially calcium phosphate.

The Cremain memorial of the invention may be prepared by any known ceramic fabrication method. For example, it may be prepared by a rheological method including mixing a raw material and appropriate solvent, an appropriate binder and so on to make a slurry, casting the slurry into a green body, and firing in high temperature. The Cremain memorial may also be obtained by a mold pressing method including pressing a powdered or granulated raw material in a mold into a green body and then firing at its sintering temperature. Other conventional and advanced processes such as injection molding, hot pressing, or state-of-the-art spark plasma sintering (SPS) or field assisted sintering techniques (FAST) can also be applied. It should be noted that all the additives used in this invention are organic-based and thus no trace element is remained in the sintered product.

The processing of the cremation remains may begin with grinding and milling steps to produce a uniform powder. The obtained Cremain with heterogeneous bone fragments have to be ground into a fine powder of flour consistency. The ground powder normally exhibits bimodal size distribution as shown in Figure 1. Additional milling step, such as wet ball milling, may be required. The resulting powders, a binder resin, a lubricant, and a solvent are mixed and milled in a polyethylene bottle to make a slurry. Fine powder with uniform size as shown in Figure 2 will be obtained. It is preferred to use Cremain with an average particle size of a few micron or less. Bone ash with an average particle size of 0.1 to 2 micron is particularly preferred in terms of sinterabihty. Cremain batch with smaller size distribution sinters at lower temperature, but this is leveraged by higher grain growth tendency.

Examples of useful binder resins include acrylic resins and poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) resins. The content of the binder resin in the slurry is preferably 0.5% to 5.0% by mass, more preferably 1.5% to 3.5% by mass, based on the total solids content. When the proportion of the binder resin in the solids content is too much, particles subsequently obtained by granulation tend to become hard and suffer from density variation. When the amount of the binder resin is too small, the resulting green body will have insufficient strength.

Examples of useful plasticiser include

Examples of useful lubricants include steric acid emulsion. The amount of the lubricant to be used is preferably 0.05% to 0.5%, more preferably 0.1% to 0.3%, by mass based on the total solid content of the slurry.

The solvent to be used is exemplified by water. The amount of the solvent is preferably 20% to 80%, more preferably 40% to 60% by mass.

The slurry is granulated by drying into raw material powder of a size suited for pressing into green body using for example, a spray drier. The resulting granule is packed in a mold and pressed at ambient temperature. The pressure to be applied to the powder is preferably 0.5 to 2.0 t/cm ² , more preferably 0.7 to 1.5 t/cm ² .

Density of the specimen is controlled to high up over 50% of the theoretical density of hydroxyapatite (density of compound essentially similar to ashes is equal to 3.16 g/cm ) in order to minimize porosity in the final product.

The resulting green body is fired in a kiln. A preferred firing temperature ranges. from 1200°C to 1400°C. Firing conditions, such as rate of heating to firing temperature, firing time, and rate of cooling, are selected as appropriate for the making of a Cremain memorial. The material can be formed into the desired shape by subsequent fabrication techniques such as cutting and polishing. EXAMPLES

Preparation of the Cremain memorial and related decorative items according to the invention will now be illustrated with reference to examples, but it should be understood that the invention is not deemed to be limited thereto.

Example 1

This example illustrates the embodiment of Cremain memorial via Cremain preparation and fabrication by mold pressing technique.

The as-recieved Cremain, which is a mixture of broken bone and ash, is ground to flour consistency. Fine mesh sieve is used to separate coarse powder for re-grinding. Then ball-mill the ground powder in water down to prescribed size as shown in Figure 2. Care should be observed to mininize contamination during grinding and milling process. The grinding apparatus and milling media made of inert material, such as agate, zirconia or alumina, is recommended.

Additives added into the slurry are 2.5 parts by weight of wax emulsion as lubricant, 1.5 parts by weight of dissolved polyethylene glycol as plasticizer, and 1.5 parts by weight of dissolved polyvinyl alcohol as binder. Mix the slurry thoroughly by resuming the milling for another hour. The slurry was granulated by drying at 110°C and the resulting powder was screened to remove fines and large particles using sieves having an opening size of 25 micron and 150 micron. The powder was packed in a mold and pressed at room temperature under a pressure of 1 t/cm2 using a 10 1 press to obtain a green body. The green body was fired at 1400°C for 1 hour. The heating cycle was 2°C/min up to 800°C, and 5°C/min for 800-1400°C. The resulting relative density was 96%, as measured by the Archimedes method. In order to reveal its vitreous luster, the specimen was then polished successively from 12 micron down to 1 micron surface finish.

Example 2

This example illustrates the embodiment of Cremain memorial via rheological technique.

The Cremain ground to flour consistency and then to prescribed size as explained in Example 1 is used. The Cremain slips were prepared by adding 65 wt% Cremain and 35 wt% deionized water, with optimum amount of dispersing agent (2% Calgon or sodium

hexametaphosphate and 3% DarvanC or ammonium polymethacrylate); milled in polyethylene jars for 12-16 h, using zirconia or alumina milling media; and then cast into plaster moulds, to obtain green bodies having densities in the range 50%-58% of theoretical density (3.16 g/cm-3 for HA). The green bodies were air-sintered in the temperature 1350°C in an SiC furnace.

Density of the sintered products reached a maximum of ~93%-94% of theoretical value. Example 3

This example illustrates the embodiment of Cremain memorial via hot pressing.

The Cremain ground to flour consistency and then to prescribed size as explained in Example 1 is used. Cremain pallets have been produced by sintering in vacuum (6 x 10 ^"3 Pa) and at heating rate 50°C/min to temperature 1200°C with a holding time of 5 minutes under a uniaxial pressure of 50 MPa. Sample with a relative density of 99% was obtained.

Example 4

This example illustrates the personalization of Cremain memorial via decaling.

Although appearance, texture and color, of the Cremain memorial is associated with individual's habits and characteristics, it is beneficial to permanently attached photograph, image, or message of the deceased onto the surface. This is especially useful when inheriting the

Cremain memorial onto decendants. Furthermore, it enables a highly personalized memorial to be present at a memorial service to help bring closure and understanding of the deceased to the attendees of the service.

Find a picture or other image of the deceased or just a message. Print that on the special fired-on image decal paper. Cut out the image, and soak it in warm water. Once the decal begin to separate from the paper backing, remove it and slide the decal on to surface of the Cremain plate or multiple Cremain mosaic. Position the decal and blot-off the excess water, and wait an hour or so for it to completely dry. Fire the item in a kiln.

Example s

This example illustrates the assembly of Cremain memorial to a jewelry setting or an item used daily as accessories.

A circular disc Cremain memorial from Example 1 was prepared and polished to 1 micron surface finish. A pendent was designed with a circular gem center. Since bone and thus bone ash of individuals with different age, health status, eating habit and so on, will give rise to Cremain memorials of different appearance. Each pendant is thus unique and can be identified with the deceased as shown in Figure 3.

From the foregoing description and examples, it apparent to those skilled in the art, various modifications, adaptations and variations of the foregoing specific disclosure can be made without departing from the scope of the invention claimed herein. The various feature and elements of the described invention may be combined in a manner different from the

combination described or claimed herein, without departing from the scope of the invention.