A sintered body of the present invention is a sintered body including a first material and cubic boron nitride. The first material is partially-stabilized ZrO.sub.2 including 5 to 90 volume % of Al.sub.2O.sub.3 dispersed in crystal grain boundaries or crystal grains of partially-stabilized ZrO.sub.2.

A sintered compact has a first material, a second material, and a third material. The first material is cubic boron nitride. The second material is a compound including zirconium. The third material is an aluminum oxide and the aluminum oxide includes a fine-particle aluminum oxide. The sintered compact has a first region in which not less than 5 volume % and not more than 50 volume % of the fine-particle aluminum oxide is dispersed in the second material. On arbitrary straight lines in the first region, an average value of continuous distances occupied by the fine-particle aluminum oxide is not more than 0.08 m and a standard deviation of the continuous distances occupied by the fine-particle aluminum oxide is not more than 0.1 m.

A fly-cutting system is disclosed, and in particular one that comprises a dynamically-controllable actuator for controlling the position, orientation, or both position and orientation of a cutting element carried by a fly-cutting head. In certain embodiments, the actuator can adjust the position or orientation of a cutting element, or both, hundreds or thousands of times per second, enabling precise control over the shape of features formed by the cutting element in a surface of a workpiece.

A tool blank (30) for a cutting tool (1), such as an end mill, drill or engraving tool, includes a tool shank (2) configured to be received in a rotating tool holder of a processing machine, and a cutting head blank (3) fixedly connected to the tool shank (2). The cutting head blank (3) includes multiple cutting head blank elements (5) fixedly connected to each other, preferably soldered to each other, and made of a high hardness material such as polycrystalline diamond. A cutting tool (1), such as an end mill, drill or engraving tool, has at least one tool cutting edge (15) that is defined on such a tool blank (30) and extends over multiple cutting head blank elements (5) that are fixedly connected to one another.

The invention relates to a rotating tool including a support shaft extending in the axial direction along a rotational axis and a tool head connected thereto having a base body extending along the rotational axis and a core, to which a jacket made of a cutting material is placed, wherein the core has a circular cross-section (Q) in the radial direction and a jacket has a specified wall thickness and wherein a number of grooves is made in the jacket in order to form a number of cutting edges.

A sintered compact according to the present invention includes: a first material that is cubic boron nitride; a second material that is an oxide of zirconium; and a third material that is an oxide of aluminum, the second material including cubic ZrO.sub.2 and ZrO, the third material including -Al.sub.2O.sub.3, and the sintered compact satisfying the following relation:
0.9I.sub.zro2(111)/I.sub.al(110)30; and
0.3I.sub.zro(111)/I.sub.al(110)3, where I.sub.al(110), I.sub.zro2(111), and I.sub.zro(111) respectively represent X-ray diffraction intensities of a (110) plane of the -Al.sub.2O.sub.3, a (111) plane of the cubic ZrO.sub.2, and a (111) plane of the ZrO.

A cutting tool includes a portion made of a high hardness material. The portion includes a rake face, a flank face, and a cutting edge. The rake face is divided into a region A along the cutting edge and a region B excluding the region A of the rake face, a surface roughness of the region A is smaller than a surface roughness of the region B, and the region B is deepened with respect to a position of the region A.

A sintered compact according to the present invention includes: a first material that is cubic boron nitride; a second material that is an oxide of zirconium; and a third material that is an oxide of aluminum, the second material including cubic ZrO.sub.2 and ZrO, the third material including -Al.sub.2O.sub.3, and the sintered compact satisfying the following relation:

0.9I.sub.zro2(111)/I.sub.al(110)30; and

0.3I.sub.zro(111)/I.sub.al(110)3,

where I.sub.al(110), I.sub.zro2(111), and I.sub.zro(111) respectively represent X-ray diffraction intensities of a (110) plane of the -Al.sub.2O.sub.3, a (111) plane of the cubic ZrO.sub.2, and a (111) plane of the ZrO.

A sintered compact has a first material, a second material, and a third material. The first material is cubic boron nitride. The second material is a compound including zirconium. The third material is an aluminum oxide and the aluminum oxide includes a fine-particle aluminum oxide. The sintered compact has a first region in which not less than 5 volume % and not more than 50 volume % of the fine-particle aluminum oxide is dispersed in the second material. On arbitrary straight lines in the first region, an average value of continuous distances occupied by the fine-particle aluminum oxide is not more than 0.08 m and a standard deviation of the continuous distances occupied by the fine-particle aluminum oxide is not more than 0.1 m.

A method of making a super-hard article comprising a super-hard structure (14) bonded to a substrate (18), the super-hard structure comprising a sintered plurality of super-hard grains. The method includes providing raw material powder suitable for sintering the super-hard structure. The raw material powder is combined with organic binder material in a liquid medium to form paste. The content of the raw material powder is more than 60 and less than 85 mass per cent of the paste and the composition of the paste is such that it has a shear rate of at most 25 inverse second (s-.sup.1). A substrate assembly is provided, which comprises the substrate, having a formation surface area configured for forming a boundary of the super-hard structure, the substrate comprising a recess coterminous with the formation surface area. The paste is extruded into contact with the formation surface area to provide a paste assembly. The paste assembly is heat treated to remove the binder material and provide a pre-sinter assembly. The pre-sinter assembly is subjected to a pressure and temperature sufficient to sinter the raw material powder and transform it into the super-hard structure bonded to the substrate at a boundary coterminous with the formation surface area. The super-hard material is diamond or cubic boron nitride.