This disclosure relates to a method of producing a tool comprising a substrate and a hard-face coating metallurgically bonded to the substrate. The method comprises the steps of: providing a steel substrate; providing a composition of fully sintered granulate grains; and then applying the fully sintered granulate grains onto the substrate. The resultant cemented carbide material on the steel substrate comprises a specific composition and includes a metastable phase having a nanohardness of at least 12 GPa and a Palmqvist fracture toughness of below 7 MPa m½. The method includes heat-treating the hard-face coating to at least partially decompose the metastable phase, to increase the Palmqvist fracture toughness.

An aluminum-based composite material includes a plurality of coarse crystalline grains (3) of pure aluminum, and a plurality of fine crystalline grains (4) each having an aluminum matrix (1), and a dispersion material (2) dispersed inside the aluminum matrix and formed by reacting a portion or all of an additive with aluminum in the aluminum matrix. The fine crystalline grains exist among the coarse crystalline grains, and the fine crystalline grains have crystalline grain diameters smaller than crystalline grain diameters of the coarse crystalline grains.

The present invention relates to a powder for three-dimensional printing of a cermet or a cemented carbide body. The powder has 30-70 vol % of the particles that are <10 μm in diameter. The present invention also relates to a method of making a cermet or cemented carbide body. The method includes the steps of forming the powder, 3D printing a body using the powder together with a printing binder to form a 3D printed cermet or cemented carbide green body and subsequently sintering the green body to form a cermet or cemented carbide body.

A cemented carbide body includes WC in a metallic binder phase. The cemented carbide body has a bulk portion and a surface portion. The grain size of the WC in the surface portion is smaller than the grain size in the bulk portion of the body and this gives an increased surface hardness and an increased wear resistance. The median grain thickness, tg, of WC in the surface portion is 20-300 nm and the average grain size in the bulk portion is 0.5-8 μm. A method of surface hardening a cemented carbide body is also provided.

A method for manufacturing a sintered body having one or more hard constituents in a metallic binder phase, the method including the steps of forming a green body from a powder composition including at least the one or more hard constituents, the metallic binder phase, and an organic binder system, forming a pattern in a surface of the green body such as to provide a tag enabling individual identification of the green body, and sintering the green body with the tag to form a sintered body having a smaller volume than the green body. The pattern is formed such that the tag is readable after the sintering operation.

A method for depositing a hardened layer includes sequentially depositing a hardened layer. The hardened layer is formed by spraying a powder material for forming a hardened layer, which is obtained by mixing a first powder containing a Stellite alloy with a second powder containing tungsten carbide, toward a substrate, and melting and solidifying the powder material on/above the substrate. As the hardened layer to be formed is away from the substrate in a deposition direction, at least one of a heat input adjustment step and a content adjustment step is performed. The heat input adjustment step is a step of reducing a heat input for the powder material during formation of the hardened layer. The content adjustment step is a step of increasing a content of the second powder in the powder material for the hardened layer.

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to polycrystalline diamond compacts that have a substrate including a cementing constituent constituting less than 13 weight percent (wt %) of the substrate, the cementing constituent including a cobalt alloy having and at least one alloying element, wherein the at least one alloying element constitutes less than 12 wt % of the substrate and wherein the cobalt constitutes less than 12 wt % of the substrate; and methods of making the same.

A modified alloy powder includes a powdered alloy; and a carbide powder, mixed in the powdered alloy; wherein the carbide powder has a particle size smaller than that of the powdered alloy, and the carbide powder is dedicated to powder bed selective laser melting and laser metal deposition technology. Being used as a grain refiner and a grain growth inhibitor, the effect of refinement in the grain size of final products and improvement of the workpiece strength can be achieved.

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to polycrystalline diamond compacts that have a substrate including a cementing constituent constituting less than 13 weight percent (wt %) of the substrate, the cementing constituent including a cobalt alloy having and at least one alloying element, wherein the at least one alloying element constitutes less than 12 wt % of the substrate and wherein the cobalt constitutes less than 12 wt % of the substrate; and methods of making the same.

The present application is a new improvement in the fine-grained cubic boron nitride sintered compact which may be employed to manufacture a cutting tool. The compact contains at least 80 vol % cBN with a metallic binder system and is sintered under HPHT conditions. The improvement incorporates alloys of aluminum in the metallic binder system.