Kennametal Inc.
Cutting tools comprising ultrahard materials and methods of making the same

Abstract:

In one aspect, methods of fabricating cutting tools employing ultrahard materials are described herein. A method of making a cutting tool comprises electronically loading a cutting tool pattern into a laser machining system and providing a blank to the laser machining system, the blank comprising a layer of ultrahard material. The cutting tool pattern is administered to the blank via a single laser processing step to form the cutting tool including at least one as-formed cutting edge comprising the ultrahard material and having an edge radius less than 10 .mu.m. The single laser processing step can provide the cutting tool in final form, thereby obviating further processing steps.