The present invention relates to a method of making a cemented carbide comprising mixing in a slurry a first powder fraction and a second powder fraction, subjecting the slurry to milling, drying, pressing and sintering. The first powder fraction is made from cemented carbide scrap recycled using the Zn recovery process, comprising the elements W, C, Co, and at least one or more of Ta, Ti, Nb, Cr, Zr, Hf and Mo, and the second powder fraction comprising virgin raw materials of WC and possibly carbides and/or carbonitrides of one or more of Cr, Zr, W, Ta, Ti, Hf and Nb. The first powder fraction is subjected to a pre-milling step, prior to the step of forming the slurry, to obtain an average grain size of between 0.2 to 1.5 μm.

A surface-coated cutting tool with a hard coating layer exhibits excellent chipping resistance and wear resistance in a high-speed cutting process. The surface-coated cutting tool comprises a lower layer consisting of a titanium compound layer and an upper layer consisting of an aluminum oxide layer deposited on a surface of a tool substrate constituted of a tungsten carbide-based cemented carbide as a hard coating layer. In the upper layer, a (006) plane texture coefficient TC(006) is 1.8 or more, a ratio I(104)/I(110) of a peak intensity I(104) of an (104) plane to a peak intensity I(110) of an (110) plane is in a range of 0.5 to 2.0, and furthermore, an absolute value of a residual stress in the aluminum oxide layer is 100 MPa or less.

A polycrystalline diamond compact useful for wear, cutting, drilling, drawing and like applications is provided with a first diamond region remote from the working surface which has a metallic catalyzing material and a second diamond region adjacent to or including the working surface containing a non-metallic catalyst and the method of making such a compact is provided. This compact is particularly useful in high temperature operations, such as hard rock drilling because of the improved thermal stability at the working surface.

A physical configuration of multiple-layer coatings formed with at least one layer of coating containing cubic born nitride (cBN) particles with one or more layers in composite form containing cBN particles may have a thickness of each individual layer as thin as in the nanometer range, or as thick as in the range of a few microns and even up to tens of microns. The chemistry of the composite layer consists of any individual phase of (a) nitrides such as titanium nitride (TiN), titanium carbonitride (TiCN), and hafnium nitride (HfN); (b) carbides such as titanium carbide (TiC); and (c) oxides such as aluminum oxide (AI.sub.2O.sub.3) or any combination of the above phases, in addition to cBN particles. The coating or film can be stand-alone or on a substrate.

A cutting tool for radial and axial recessing and for lateral motion for so-called grooving of primarily metallic materials, having a clamping holder and a cutting element base, fastened to the clamping holder, on which a cutting element rests, the cutting element being pressed onto the cutting element base by a clamping finger of a clamping claw, and the cutting element being guided on the cutting element base with a prism.

Thermally stable diamond constructions comprise a diamond body having a plurality of bonded diamond crystals, a plurality of interstitial regions disposed among the crystals, and a substrate attached to the body. The body includes a working surface and a side surface extending away from the working surface to the substrate. The body comprises a first region adjacent the side surface that is substantially free of a catalyst material and that extends a partial depth into the diamond body. The first region can further extend to at least a portion of the working surface and a partial depth therefrom into the diamond body. The diamond body can be formed from natural diamond grains and/or a mixture of natural and synthetic diamond grains. A surface of the diamond body is treated to provide the first region, and before treatment is finished to an approximate final dimension.

A cutting tool for performing cutting operations on a workpiece when the cutting tool is rotated about a central axis by a machine tool, the cutting tool includes a generally cylindrical body disposed about the central axis. The generally cylindrical body includes a first end and an opposite second end. The cutting tool further includes a cutting portion and a mounting portion. The cutting portion is disposed at or about the first end of the generally cylindrical body and includes a number of cutting edges structured to engage the workpiece during cutting operations. The mounting portion is disposed at or about the opposite second end of the generally cylindrical body and is structured to be coupled to the machine tool. At least a portion of the generally cylindrical body comprises a molded portion formed via a molding process about the cutting portion in a manner that couples the cutting portion to the generally cylindrical body.

A composite sintered body according to the present invention contains at least cubic boron nitride and a binder. Cubic boron nitride has a continuous skeleton structure as a result of bonding of a plurality of first cubic boron nitride particles to each other. The binder has a continuous structure as a result of bonding of a plurality of binder particles to each other, that are present in a region except for a bonding interface where the first cubic boron nitride particles are bonded to each other. Second cubic boron nitride particles isolated from the first cubic boron nitride particles forming the skeleton structure are dispersed in the continuous structure of the binder particles.

A cutting tool includes a cutting insert that is held in a holder in a detachable manner. The cutting insert has a substantially regular quadrangular shape in plan view and includes four round corners. The cutting insert is formed of CBN sinter as a whole. The cutting insert includes two principal surfaces that are upper and lower surfaces opposite to each other, and four side surfaces that are arranged so as to connect the principal surfaces to each other. A boundary portion (ridge line portion) between each of the principal surfaces and each of the side surfaces forms a cutting edge. In a central portion of each of the side surfaces of the cutting insert, a groove for absorbing a crack, having a substantially V-shape in cross section, is formed all around the cutting insert so as to be recessed with respect to the side surfaces.

A cutting tool composed of a sintered cermet body is disclosed. The body includes hard phases composed of carbide(s), nitride(s), and carbonitride(s) of metal(s) selected from metals belonging to Groups 4, 5, and 6 of the periodic table including Ti as a main component, and includes first and second hard phases, and a binding phase mainly composed of at least one of Co and Ni. The body includes first and second faces, a cutting edge located at an edge of the first and second faces, and an interior portion located at a depth of 400 m or more from the first face. When residual stresses are measured by a 2D method, stress of the first hard phase is 80 MPa or more in terms of compressive stress. Stresses of the second hard phase and the binding phase are 50 MPa to 50 Mpa in terms of compressive or tensile stress.