A coating layer of a coated tool according to the present disclosure contains a cubic crystal composed of at least one element selected from Group 4a, 5a and 6a elements in the periodic table, Al and Si and at least one element selected from C and N. The coating layer has a maximum value I.sub.2max of an X-ray intensity in a measurement range of 0 or greater and 900 or less on an X-ray intensity distribution of a positive pole figure related to a (200) plane of the cubic crystal. In the coating layer, a difference (I.sub.2maxI.sub.23min) between a minimum value (I.sub.23min) of the X-ray intensity in a third region and the I.sub.2max is smaller than a difference (I.sub.2maxI.sub.24min) between a minimum value (I.sub.24min) of the X-ray intensity in a fourth region and the I.sub.2max, and the I.sub.23min is 95% or greater of the I.sub.2max.

A hard and wear resistant coating for a body includes at least one metal based nitride layer having improved high temperature performance. The layer is (Zr1-x-zSixMez)Ny with 0<x<0.30, 0.90<y<1.20, 0z<0.25, and Me is one or more of the elements Y, Ti, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W and Al, comprised of a single cubic phase, a single hexagonal phase or a mixture thereof, with a cubic phase of a sodium chloride structure and a thickness between 0.5 m and 15 m. The layer is deposited using cathodic arc evaporation and is useful for metal cutting applications generating high temperatures.

A coated tool includes a base body and a coating layer located on a surface of the base body. The coating layer contains a cubic crystal composed of at least one element selected from Group 4a, 5a and 6a elements under the periodic table, Al, Si, B, Y, and Mn, and at least one element selected from C and N. In a measurement range from 0 to 90 in a distribution of X-ray intensity on an axis in a positive pole figure for a (111) plane of the coating layer, a difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of the X-ray intensity in a range where an angle of the axis is from 30 to 90 is 10% or less of the maximum value.

A cemented carbide consisting of a first hard phase, second hard phases, and a binder phase, wherein the first hard phase is composed of tungsten carbide grains, a D10 and a D90 of grain sizes of the tungsten carbide grains are 0.40 sm or more and 2.00 sm or less respectively, the second hard phases are composed of at least one first compound selected from the group consisting of TaNbC, TaNbN, TaNbCN, TiCN, TiNbC, TiNbN, and TiNbCN, the cemented carbide includes 0.30 to 1.60% by volume of the second hard phases, a median of areas of the second hard phases is 0.90 to 1.20 m.sup.2, a coefficient of variation of the areas of the second hard phases is 0.50 to 1.20, the binder phase includes 50% by mass or more of cobalt, and the cemented carbide includes 8.0 to 12.0% by volume of the binder phase.

A cemented carbide consisting of a first hard phase, second hard phases, and a binder phase, wherein the first hard phase is composed of tungsten carbide grains, a D10 and a D90 of grain sizes of the tungsten carbide grains are 0.40 m and 2.00 m respectively, the second hard phases are composed of at least one first compound selected from the group consisting of TaNbC, TaNbN, TaNbCN, TiCN, TiNbC, TiNbN, and TiNbCN, the cemented carbide includes 0.30% to 1.60% by volume of the second hard phases, a median of a distance between centroids of two of the second hard phases that are closest is 4 to 15 m, a coefficient of variation of the distance between centroids is 1.20 to 1.90, the binder phase includes 50% by mass or more of cobalt, and the cemented carbide includes 8.0 to 14.0% by volume of the binder phase.

A cemented carbide consisting of a first hard phase, second hard phases, and a binder phase, wherein the first hard phase is composed of tungsten carbide grains, a D10 and a D90 of grain sizes of the tungsten carbide grains are 0.40 m and 2.00 m respectively, the second hard phases are composed of at least one first compound selected from the group consisting of TaNbC, TaNbN, TaNbCN, TiCN, TiNbC, TiNbN, and TiNbCN, the cemented carbide includes 0.30% to 1.60% by volume of the second hard phases, a median of a distance between centroids of two of the second hard phases that are closest is 4 to 15 m, a coefficient of variation of the distance between centroids is 1.20 to 1.90, the binder phase includes 50% by mass or more of cobalt, and the cemented carbide includes 8.0 to 14.0% by volume of the binder phase.

A cemented carbide consists of a first hard phase, second hard phases, and a binder phase, wherein the first hard phase is composed of tungsten carbide grains, a D10 and a D90 of grain sizes of the tungsten carbide grains are 0.40 m or more and 2.00 m or less respectively, the second hard phases are composed of at least one first compound selected from the group consisting of TaNbC, TaNbN, TaNbCN, TiCN, TiNbC, TiNbN, and TiNbCN, the cemented carbide includes 0.30% to 1.60% by volume of the second hard phases, an average of circularities of the second hard phases is 0.10 to 0.32, a standard deviation of the circularity is 0.094 to 0.130, the binder phase includes 50% by mass or more of cobalt, and the cemented carbide includes 8.0% to 12.0% by volume of the binder phase.

A cemented carbide consists of a first hard phase, second hard phases, and a binder phase, wherein the first hard phase is composed of tungsten carbide grains, a D10 and a D90 of grain sizes of the tungsten carbide grains are 0.40 m or more and 2.00 m or less respectively, the second hard phases are composed of at least one first compound selected from the group consisting of TaNbC, TaNbN, TaNbCN, TiCN, TiNbC, TiNbN, and TiNbCN, the cemented carbide includes 0.30% to 1.60% by volume of the second hard phases, an average of circularities of the second hard phases is 0.10 to 0.32, a standard deviation of the circularity is 0.094 to 0.130, the binder phase includes 50% by mass or more of cobalt, and the cemented carbide includes 8.0% to 12.0% by volume of the binder phase.

A cutting tool, comprising a substrate and a coating, wherein the coating comprises a first layer consisting of multiple hard particles, in the first layer, N.sub.Si/(N.sub.Ti+N.sub.Si) is 0.010 to 0.10, the hard particles have a lamellar structure in which the content of silicon changes periodically, in a first graph showing results obtained by subjecting the hard particles to line analysis with TEM-EDX, in a coordinate system having the X-axis indicating a distance from any point, P1, and the Y-axis indicating the ratio N.sub.Si/(N.sub.Ti+N.sub.Si), each cycle of the ratio N.sub.Si/(N.sub.Ti+N.sub.Si) includes a first minimum value, a first maximum value, a second minimum value, a second maximum value, and a third minimum value along the positive direction of the X-axis, and the average of the second minimum values is higher than the average of the first minimum values and the third minimum values.

A surface coated cutting tool comprises a substrate and a coating layer, where (a) the coating layer comprises a complex nitride or carbonitride layer; (b) the complex nitride or carbonitride is (Al.sub.XV.sub.YT.sub.1-X-Y)(C.sub.N.sub.1-) (wherein the average values X.sub.avg, Y.sub.avg and .sub.avg of X, Y and , satisfy the relations: 0.600X.sub.avg0.950, 0.010Y.sub.avg0.300, 0.610X.sub.avg+Y.sub.avg0.990 and 0.0000.sub.avg0.0050); (c) the complex nitride or carbonitride comprises crystal grains containing a variable amount X of Al, wherein the average X.sub.max of the maxima X.sub.max* and the average X.sub.min of the minima X.sub.min* of X in the crystal grains satisfy the relations: 0.020X.sub.maxX.sub.min0.400, and 0.020X.sub.maxX.sub.min0.400, and (d) A* (nm)=0.404X.sub.avg+0.4130Y.sub.avg+0.4242 (1X.sub.avgY.sub.avg) and the lattice constant A (nm) calculated from an XRD pattern satisfy the relation: |AA*|<0.0010 (nm).