Cutting elements include at least one metal diffused into interbonded grains of diamond. Earth-boring tools include at least one such cutting element. Methods of forming cutting elements may include forming a mixture of the at least one metal salt and a plurality of grains of hard material and sintering the mixture to form a hard polycrystalline material. During sintering, the metal salt may melt or react with another compound to form a liquid that acts as a lubricant to promote rearrangement and packing of the grains of hard material. The metal salt may, thus, enable formation of hard polycrystalline material having increased density, abrasion resistance, or strength. The metal salt may also act as a getter to remove impurities (e.g., catalyst material) during sintering. The methods may also be employed to form cutting elements and earth-boring tools.

The present disclosure provides a polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) including a substrate and a polycrystalline diamond table including a sintering aid compound, a dissociated non-sintering aid component, a derivative compound, or a mixture thereof and further including dissociated sintering aid. The disclosure further provides an earth-boring drill bit containing a bit body and the PDC in the form of a cutter. The disclosure also provides a method of forming a PDC including placing a substrate and a mixture of diamond grains and a sintering aid compound in a can and performing an HTHP process to form a PDC including the substrate and a polycrystalline diamond table formed from the diamond grains and the sintering aid compound and including the sintering aid compound, a dissociated non-sintering aid component, a derivative compound, or a mixture thereof and dissociated sintering aid.

A method for manufacturing a cutter includes: placing a can into a press, the can comprising superhard powder, a metallic frame embedded in the superhard powder, and catalyst; operating the press to sinter the superhard powder, thereby forming a polycrystalline superhard cutting head; and exposing at least a portion of the polycrystalline superhard cutting head and the frame to acid for removing at least a portion of the catalyst from the polycrystalline superhard cutting head. The leaching frame comprises a plurality of branches. Each branch has an inner end located adjacent to a front face of the cutting head and an outer end located adjacent to a side of the cutting head. The acid tunnels into the polycrystalline superhard cutting head by dissolving the leaching frame.

A polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutting element includes a substrate and a polycrystalline diamond compact. The substrate comprises a ceramic-metal composite material including hard ceramic particles in a metal matrix. The polycrystalline diamond compact includes interbonded diamond particles. Interstitial material disposed within interstitial spaces between the interbonded diamond particles comprises aluminum and at least one element of the ceramic-metal composite material of the substrate. A method of manufacturing such a PDC cutting element includes forming a mixture including diamond particles and particles of aluminum, and subjecting the mixture and a substrate to a high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) sintering process.

A manufacturing method of a diamond porous grinding block based on 3D printing. The manufacturing method includes designing a 3D printing model of a grinding block unit cell with an adjustable porosity according to an internal cooling space for abrasive debris required in a grinding process, importing the 3D printing model of the grinding block unit cell into a MAGICS software, filling a frame of a 3D printing model of a diamond porous grinding block with a plurality of 3D printing models of grinding block unit cells; preparing mixed powder of diamond abrasive particles and an aluminum alloy binder as printing powder, performing 3D printing to the 3D printing model of the diamond porous grinding block by an SLM technology to obtain the diamond porous grinding block. The diamond porous grinding block is configured to form a diamond structure grinding disc for grinding a semiconductor substrate.

A cutting element comprises a supporting substrate, a cutting table comprising a hard material attached to the supporting substrate, and a fluid flow pathway extending through the supporting substrate and the cutting table. The fluid flow pathway is configured to direct fluid delivered to an outermost boundary of the supporting substrate through internal regions of the supporting substrate and the cutting table. A method of forming a cutting element and an earth-boring tool are also described.

A sintered material includes diamond grains and a binder. A boron concentration in the diamond grains is more than or equal to 0.001 mass % and less than or equal to 0.9 mass %. A boron concentration in the binder is more than or equal to 0.5 mass % and less than or equal to 40 mass %.

A method of forming a super hard polycrystalline construction is disclosed as comprising placing a pre-formed structure of a first material into a canister, introducing a plurality of grains or particles of super hard material into the canister to locate the grains or particles in and/or around the pre-formed structure to form a pre-sinter assembly and treating the pre-sinter assembly at an ultra-high pressure of around 5 GPa or greater and a temperature to sinter together the grains of super hard material in the presence of a binder material to form the super hard polycrystalline construction comprising a body of polycrystalline super hard material having a first region of super hard grains in a binder material, and an embedded second region.

A mirror support for an optical mirror and a method for producing an optical mirror are disclosed. In an embodiment a mirror support includes a mirror body comprising a diamond particle reinforced aluminum composite material and a polishing layer arranged on the mirror body, wherein a content of diamond particles in the aluminum composite material is between 5% by mass and 50% by mass inclusive and is selected such that a thermal coefficient of linear expansion of the mirror body is adapted to a thermal coefficient of linear expansion of the polishing 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.