The invention relates to an item made of a material consisting of a plurality of ceramic phases, said material including: a majority ceramic phase comprising nitrides and/or carbonitrides of one or more element(s) selected from among Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, and Ta, said majority ceramic phase being present in a percentage by weight comprised between 60 and 98%, at least one minority ceramic phase, with either one single minority ceramic phase formed of zirconium and/or aluminium silicide, or several minority ceramic phases formed respectively of carbides of one or more element(s) selected from among Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo and W and of zirconium oxides and/or aluminium oxides, said at least one minority ceramic phase being present in its entirety in a percentage by weight comprised between 2 and 40%.

The present invention also relates to the method for manufacturing this item.

A cubic boron nitride (cBN)-based composite including about 30-65 vol. % cBN, about 15-45 vol. % titanium (Ti)-containing binders, about 2-20 vol. % zirconium dioxide (ZrO.sub.2), about 3-15 vol. % cobalt-tungsten-borides (Co.sub.xW.sub.yB.sub.z), and about 2-15 vol. % aluminum oxide (Al.sub.2O.sub.3).

A cutting tool including a substrate and a coating film disposed on the substrate, wherein the cutting tool includes: a rake face; a flank face contiguous to the rake face; and a cutting edge region composed of a boundary part between the rake face and the flank face, wherein the coating film includes a TiSiCN layer, the TiSiCN layer has: a first TiSiCN layer positioned in the rake face; and a second TiSiCN layer positioned in the cutting edge region, the first TiSiCN layer has a composition of Ti.sub.(1-Xr)Si.sub.XrCN, the second TiSiCN layer has a composition of Ti.sub.(1-Xe)Si.sub.XeCN, and the Xr and the Xe each represent 0.010 or more and 0.100 or less, and satisfy a relationship of Xe-Xr≥0.003.

Systems and methods for making ceramic powders configured with consistent, tailored characteristics and/or properties are provided herein. In some embodiments a system for making ceramic powders, includes: a reactor body having a reaction chamber and configured with a heat source to provide a hot zone along the reaction chamber; a sweep gas inlet configured to direct a sweep gas into the reaction chamber and a sweep gas outlet configured to direct an exhaust gas from the reaction chamber; a plurality of containers, within the reactor body, configured to retain at least one preform, wherein each container is configured to permit the sweep gas to flow therethrough, wherein the preform is configured to permit the sweep gas to flow there through, such that the precursor mixture is reacted in the hot zone to form a ceramic powder product having uniform properties.

A particulate material with a composition expressed by Ti.sub.2Al.sub.x(C.sub.(1-y)N.sub.y).sub.z (where x is more than 0.02, y is 0<y<1.0, and z is from 0.8 to 1.20), the particulate material comprising layers including gap layers providing an interlayer distance of from 0.59 nm to 0.70 nm within a crystal lattice; and/or with another composition expressed by Ti.sub.3Al.sub.x(C.sub.(1-y)N.sub.y).sub.z (where x is more than 0.02, y is 0<y<1.0, and z is from 1.80 to 2.60), the particulate material comprising layers including gap layers providing an interlayer distance of from 0.44 nm to 0.55 nm within a crystal lattice.

Disclosed is a thermoelectric composite material includes a thermoelectric material including crystal grains; and a MXene inserted at boundaries of the crystal grains consisting of the thermoelectric material. Accordingly, the thermoelectric composite material may have a reduced thermal conductivity and an increased electrical conductivity. Furthermore, mechanical properties of the thermoelectric composite material may be improved. Thus, the thermoelectric composite material may improve the thermoelectric ability of a thermoelectric module including the same. A method of manufacturing the thermoelectric composite material includes coating MXene on a surface of a thermoelectric material powder including crystal grains; and sintering the thermoelectric material powder coated with the MXene to form a sintered body including the MXene inserted at boundaries of the crystal grains consisting of the thermoelectric material.

Cermet contains a hard phase which contains carbonitride containing Ti and Nb and a metallic binder phase containing an iron-group element. The hard phase includes a granular core portion and a peripheral portion which covers at least a part of the core portion. The core portion contains composite carbonitride expressed as Ti.sub.1-X-YNb.sub.XW.sub.YC.sub.1-ZN.sub.Z, where Y is not smaller than 0 and not greater than 0.05 and Z is not smaller than 0.3 and not greater than 0.6. The peripheral portion is composed to be higher in content of W than the core portion.

A particulate material with a composition expressed by Ti.sub.2Al.sub.x (C.sub.(1-y)N.sub.y).sub.z (where x is more than 0.02, y is 0<y<1.0, and z is from 0.8 to 1.20), the particulate material comprising layers including gap layers providing an interlayer distance of from 0.59 nm to 0.70 nm within a crystal lattice; and/or with another composition expressed by Ti.sub.3Al.sub.x(C.sub.(1-y)N.sub.y).sub.z (where x is more than 0.02, y is 0<y<1.0, and z is from 1.80 to 2.60), the particulate material comprising layers including gap layers providing an interlayer distance of from 0.44 nm to 0.55 nm within a crystal lattice.

A hard alloy includes complex carbonitride hard phases that contain Ti and at least one additional element, and a metal binder phase containing an iron group element as a main component element. The complex carbonitride hard phases include homogeneous composition hard phases where in-complex carbonitride hard phase average concentrations of Ti and the additional element have a difference of greater than or equal to 5 atom % and less than or equal to 5 atom % from average concentrations of Ti and the additional element in all the complex carbonitride hard phases. On any cross section specified in the hard alloy, a cross-sectional area of the homogeneous composition hard phases accounts for greater than or equal to 80% of a cross-sectional area of the complex carbonitride hard phases, and the homogeneous composition hard phases account for greater than or equal to 80% of the complex carbonitride hard phases in number.

A polycrystalline cubic boron nitride, PCBN, material is provided. The material comprises between 30 and 90 weight percent cubic boron nitride (cBN) and a matrix material in which the cBN particles are dispersed. The matrix material comprises particles of an aluminium compound; the matrix material particles having a d50 when measured using a linear intercept technique of no more than 100 nm.