The present disclosure relates to a coated cutting tool including a substrate and a coating disposed on the substrate, wherein the coating includes a layer of Ti.sub.xZr.sub.yAl.sub.(1-x-y)N, where 0<x≦0.3, 0.2≦y≦0.8 and 0.1≦(1-x-y)≦0.7. The disclosure further relates to a method of producing such a coated cutting tool, and to a cutting insert forming a coated cutting tool.

To provide a sintered material having excellent oxidation resistance, as well as excellent abrasion resistance and chipping resistance. A sintered material containing a first compound formed of Ti, Al, Si, O, and N is provided.

A cutting tool comprises a substrate and a coating that coats the substrate, the coating including an α-alumina layer provided on the substrate, the α-alumina layer including crystal grains of α-alumina, the α-alumina layer including a lower portion and an upper portion, the upper portion being occupied in area at a ratio of 50% or more by crystal grains of α-alumina having a (006) plane with a normal thereto having a direction within ±15° with respect to a direction of the normal to the second interface, the lower portion being occupied in area at a ratio of 50% or more by crystal grains of α-alumina having a (006) plane with a normal thereto having a direction within ±15° with respect to the direction of the normal to the second interface, the α-alumina layer having a thickness of 3 μm or more and 20 μm or less.

A coated cutting tool has a hard coating on a surface of a base material. The hard coating is a nitride of Al, Cr, and Si in which Al is 50 atom % or more, Cr is 30 atom % or more, and Si is 1 atom % or more and 5 atom % or less. The hard coating contains 0.02 atom % or less of Ar, and the atomic ratio A and the atomic ratio B of nitrogen satisfy the relationship of 1.02≤B/A≤1.10, and a diffraction peak originating from the (111) plane of a face-centered cubic lattice structure shows the maximum intensity. In the cross-sectional observation of the hard coating, the number of droplets having an equivalent circle diameter of 3 μm or more is less than 1 per 100 μm.sup.2. The surface of the hard coating has an arithmetical mean curvature Spc value of 5000 or less.

A cutting tool for machining titanium alloy or superalloy includes a Me-B-N coating. The Me-B-N coating is Me1-B-N; Me1 is one or more selected from transition metal elements Hf, V, Nb, Ta and Mo, and the atomic percentage of each element is: Me1: 8-40%, B: 15-60%, and N: 10-65%; and the Me-B-N coating includes Me1Nx phase and BN phase; or, the Me-B-N coating is Me1-Me2-B-N, Me1 is one or more selected from transition metal elements Hf, V, Nb, Ta and Mo; Me2 is one or more selected from transition metal elements Ti, Zr, Cr, and W; and the atomic percentage of each element is: Me1: 4-36%, Me2: 4-36%, B: 15-60%, and N: 10-65%; and the Me-B-N coating includes Me1Nx phase, Me2Nx phase and BN phase.

A method of making a polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN), material is provided. The matrix precursor powder comprises an aluminium compound. The method comprises mixing matrix precursor powder comprising particles having an average particle size no greater than 250 nm, with between 30 and 40 volume percent of cubic boron nitride (cBN) particles having an average particle size of at least 4 μm, and then spark plasma sintering the mixed particles. The spark plasma sintering occurs at a pressure of at least 500 MPa, a temperature of no less than 1050° C. and no more than 1500° C. and a time of no less than 1 minute and no more than 3 minutes.

The invention relates to a PCD composite compact element comprising a PCD structure integrally bonded at an interface to a cemented carbide substrate; the PCD structure comprising coherently bonded diamond grains having a mean size no greater than 15 microns; the cemented carbide substrate comprising carbide particles dispersed in a metallic binder, the carbide particles comprising a carbide compound of a metal; wherein the ratio of the amount of metallic binder to the amount of the metal at points in the substrate deviates from a mean value by at most 20 percent of the mean value. The invention further relates to a method for making a PDC compact element comprising a PCD structure integrally bonded to a substrate formed of cemented carbide; the method including introducing a source of excess carbon to the substrate at a bonding surface of the substrate to form a carburised substrate; contacting an aggregated mass of diamond grains with the carburised substrate; and sintering the diamond grains in the presence of a solvent/catalyst material for diamond; wherein the mean size of the diamond grains in the aggregated mass is no greater than 30 microns.

A coated tool includes a base and a coating layer. The coating layer includes a first layer including TiCN, a second layer including Al.sub.2O.sub.3, and a third layer including at least one of TiN and TiCN. Cl content included in the first, second and third layers is first, second and third Cl content. Each of the first Cl content and the third Cl content is larger than the second Cl content. The first Cl content is more than 0.2 atomic % and not more than 2 atomic %. The third Cl content is more than 0.2 atomic % and not more than 2 atomic %. A cutting tool of the present disclosure includes a holder which has a length from a first end to a second end and includes a pocket on a side of the first end; and the coated tool located in the pocket.

A cutting tool comprises a rake face and a flank face, the cutting tool being composed of a substrate made of a cubic boron nitride sintered material and a coating provided on the substrate, the coating including a MAlN layer, when a cross section of the MAlN layer is subjected to an electron backscattering diffraction image analysis to determine a crystal orientation of each of the crystal grains of the M.sub.xAl.sub.1−xN and a color map is created based thereon, then on the color map, the flank face having the MAlN layer occupied in area by 45% to 75% by crystal grains of the M.sub.xAl.sub.1−xN having a (111) plane with a normal thereto extending in a direction within 25 degrees with respect to a direction in which a normal to the flank face extends, the MAlN layer having a residual stress of −2 GPa to −0.1 GPa.

A coated cutting tool comprises a substrate and a coating layer formed on a surface of the substrate, and has a rake face and a flank. The coating layer comprises an alternating laminate structure in which first compound layers containing AlN and second compound layers containing a compound are laminated in an alternating manner, the compound having a composition represented by formula (1) below:

(Ti.sub.1-xAl.sub.x)N  (1)

(wherein x satisfies 0.40≤x≤0.70). An average thickness T.sub.1 per first compound layer is 5 nm or more to 160 nm or less, and an average thickness T.sub.2 per second compound layer is 8 nm or more to 200 nm or less. A ratio of T.sub.1 to T.sub.2 is 0.10 or more to 0.80 or less. An average thickness T.sub.3 of the alternating laminate structure is 2.5 μm or more to 7.0 μm or less. A ratio (H/E) of hardness H to elastic modulus E is 0.065 or more to 0.085 or less at the rake face or the flank.