Description

Tool materials combining the highest toughness, wear resistance, and low coefficient of friction extremes are produced by individually coating hard 0.5-2.0-micrometer core particles (e.g., diamond, CBN, Al2O3) with tough materials (e.g., tungsten carbide and cobalt), which in the sintering or thermal-cladding process become the contiguous matrix. This revolutionary class of designed-nanostructure materials called Tough-Coated Hard Particles (TCHPs, or EternAloy®) provides an unprecedented integration of multiple property extremes in ultra-performance tools, mechanical components, and thermally-applied coatings.