A tool having a cutting edge that includes a sintered body containing cubic boron nitride. The sintered body integrally and inseparably includes an inner region and a binder phase enriched layer formed on at least part of a surface of the inner region. The inner region includes: 15-90 volume % of cubic boron nitride; and 10-85 volume % of a mixture of a binder phase and impurities. The binder phase enriched layer includes: 90-100 volume % of the binder phase and impurities mixture; and 0-10 volume % of cubic boron nitride; and the binder phase contains at least one kind selected from the group consisting of: at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, Al, Co, Ni and Si; and a compound of the element and at least one element selected from the group consisting of C, N, O and B.

A tool having a cutting edge that includes a sintered body containing cubic boron nitride. The sintered body integrally and inseparably includes an inner region and a binder phase enriched layer formed on at least part of a surface of the inner region. The inner region includes: 15-90 volume % of cubic boron nitride; and 10-85 volume % of a mixture of a binder phase and impurities. The binder phase enriched layer includes: 90-100 volume % of the binder phase and impurities mixture; and 0-10 volume % of cubic boron nitride; and the binder phase contains at least one kind selected from the group consisting of: at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, Al, Co, Ni and Si; and a compound of the element and at least one element selected from the group consisting of C, N, O and B.

The present disclosure provides a system for improving wear resistance of a downhole tool component using a bonded diamond compact (BDC) construct. The BDC construct includes a BDC element and an encapsulation layer bonded to the BDC element. The encapsulation layer may fully encapsulate the BDC element. The downhole tool component may be a drill bit, push the bit pad, or mud motor beating assembly. The BDC construct may be disposed in a plug section of the downhole tool component. The encapsulation layer may form an insulating layer over the BDC element to protect the BDC element from thermal damage during hard-facing or brazing of the BDC construct to the downhole tool component.

The present disclosure provides a sputtering target containing one or more metals of Fe, Co, Cr, and Pt, and one or more of C and BN, with less generation of particles, and a method for producing the same. A sputtering target including: one or more metallic phases selected from a group consisting of Fe, Co, Cr, and Pt; and one or more nonmetallic phases selected from a group consisting of C and BN, wherein the sputtering target satisfies: A40, and A/B1.7 in which A represents the number of boundaries between the metallic phases and the nonmetallic phases on a line segment having a length of 500 m drawn in a vertical direction, in a structure photograph; and B represents the number of boundaries between the metallic phases and the nonmetallic phases on a line segment having a length of 500 m drawn in a horizontal direction, in the structure photograph.

A cutting tool according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a shank, a joint, and a cutting portion attached through the joint to the shank. The cutting portion includes a core and a surface portion. The surface portion is disposed around a central axis of the cutting portion to cover an outer circumferential surface of the core. The surface portion includes a cutting edge. The cutting edge is disposed on an outer circumferential surface of the surface portion and formed in a helical shape about the central axis. The surface portion is a composite sintered material including a hard phase formed of a plurality of diamond particles and a plurality of cubic boron nitride particles, and a binder phase forming the remainder.

A rotary cutting blade material has an attaching structure forming portion that is to serve as an attaching portion to the shank, a cutting structure forming portion that is to serve as a cutting blade, and a joint portion. The cutting structure forming portion has a core portion and a surface portion provided on the attaching structure forming portion with the joint portion being interposed, and the surface portion covers at least a part of a surface of the core portion. The attaching structure forming portion includes a hard material including a hard component and one or two or more types of iron group elements, and the hard material has a Young's modulus of not more than 350 GPa. The core portion includes a cemented carbide material, and the surface portion includes PCD or CBN.

An object is to prolong the life of a cubic boron nitride cutting tool used for cutting a heat-resistant alloy. A cubic boron nitride cutting tool includes an edge tip made of a sintered cubic boron nitride compact including cubic boron nitride particles; and a base metal that holds the edge tip at a corner portion of the base metal, wherein a cutting edge formed on the edge tip of the tool has a positive rake angle.

A tool having a cutting edge that includes a sintered body containing cubic boron nitride. The sintered body integrally and inseparably includes an inner region and a binder phase enriched layer formed on at least part of a surface of the inner region. The inner region includes: 15-90 volume % of cubic boron nitride; and 10-85 volume % of a mixture of a binder phase and impurities. The binder phase enriched layer includes: 90-100 volume % of the binder phase and impurities mixture; and 0-10 volume % of cubic boron nitride; and the binder phase contains at least one kind selected from the group consisting of: at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, Al, Co, Ni and Si; and a compound of the element and at least one element selected from the group consisting of C, N, O and B.

A tool having a cutting edge that includes a sintered body containing cubic boron nitride. The sintered body integrally and inseparably includes an inner region and a binder phase enriched layer formed on at least part of a surface of the inner region. The inner region includes: 15-90 volume % of cubic boron nitride; and 10-85 volume % of a mixture of a binder phase and impurities. The binder phase enriched layer includes: 90-100 volume % of the binder phase and impurities mixture; and 0-10 volume % of cubic boron nitride; and the binder phase contains at least one kind selected from the group consisting of: at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, Al, Co, Ni and Si; and a compound of the element and at least one element selected from the group consisting of C, N, O and B.

A cBN sintered body contains cBN particles whose proportion is 85-97% by volume, and a binding phase whose proportion is 3-15% by volume. The cBN sintered body contains Al whose ratio to the entirety of the cBN sintered body is 0.1-5% by mass, and Co whose mass ratio to the Al is 3 to 40, and includes Al.sub.3B.sub.6Co.sub.20.