Process for manufacturing a part comprising a block of dense material constituted of hard particles and of binder phase having a gradient of properties, and resulting part

1. Process for manufacturing a component comprising a block of dense material made up of hard particles, of the same or different nature, dispersed in a binder phase, the material having a solidus temperature T s above which the binder phase is liquid, the process comprising:

depositing on at least a portion of the surface of the block of dense material an active coating composed of a material capable of reacting chemically with the dense material when the assembly is heated to beyond a minimum reaction temperature T r , and

subjecting the block coated with the active coating to a heat treatment comprising heating, then maintaining for a time t m at a maintenance temperature T m greater than or equal to said minimum reaction temperature T r , followed by cooling to ambient temperature, the binder phase varying inside the block at millimeter-length distances without contribution of external binder phase and thus without leading to the total enrichment of the block in additional binder phase.

2. Process according to claim 1 , wherein the maintenance temperature T m is greater than or equal to the solidus temperature T s of the dense material.

3. Process according to claim 1 , wherein the maintenance temperature T m is between the solidus temperature T s of the dense material and a higher temperature which is equal to T s +200° C.

4. Process according to claim 1 , wherein the maintenance time t m is from 1 minute to 10 minutes.

5. Process according to claim 1 , wherein the active coating is deposited on only a portion of the surface of the block.

6. Process according to claim 1 , wherein the active coating is deposited on the entire surface of the block.

7. Process according to claim 1 , wherein the dense material is a cemented carbide composed of metal carbide particles dispersed in a metal matrix.

8. Process according to claim 7 , wherein the cemented carbide also contains particles of natural or synthetic diamond measuring up to 1 mm in diameter.

9. Process according to claim 7 , wherein the cemented carbide is of the WC-M type, M being one or more metals selected from Co, Ni and Fe, the sum of the contents by weight of these metals in the binder phase being greater than 50%.

10. Process according to claim 1 , wherein the coating material capable of reacting with the dense material of the block is composed of at least one compound selected from compounds of the nitride, boride, carbide, oxide, hydride, carbonitride, borocarbide or graphite type or of any mixture of these various compounds.

11. Process according to claim 1 , wherein the coating is deposited by a process of the PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) or CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) type, or by a spraying process or using a brush or by dipping or by serigraphy.

12. Process according to claim 1 , wherein the block of dense material is a cutting edge or a support block of a cutting edge of a tool for drilling or hewing or machining.

13. Process according to claim 12 , wherein, in addition, a diamond wafer of the PDC (Polycrystalline Diamond Compact) or TSP (Thermally Stable Polycrystalline diamond) type is deposited on a face of the support block.

14. Process according to claim 13 , wherein the diamond wafer is attached to a face of the block by brazing, after the block has been treated.

15. Apparatus comprising a cutting edge for breaking up rocks, comprising a block made up of hard particles dispersed in a binder phase, which block is obtained by the process according to claim 1 , wherein the block has, over a distance greater than 0.5 mm, a continuous gradient of binder phase content, the difference in binder phase content between the richest zone and the poorest zone being greater than 1% by volume.

16. Apparatus according to claim 15 , further comprising an attached diamond wafer of the PDC or TSP type of a thickness greater than 0.4 mm.

17. A process, comprising:

depositing a coating on a surface of a block of dense cermet material comprising hard particles dispersed in a binder phase, said coating composed of a material capable of reacting chemically with the dense cermet material but which does not contain said binder phase; and

subjecting the block and coating to a thermal cycle including heating above a temperature where a chemical reaction of the coating with the dense cermet material occurs and above a solidus temperature of the dense cermet material so as to cause a redistribution of the binder phase to form within the block of dense cermet material a binder phase gradient without contribution of external binder phase.

18. The process according to claim 17 , wherein depositing comprises depositing the coating on only a portion of the surface of the block.

19. The process according to claim 17 , wherein depositing comprises depositing the coating to completely cover all surfaces of the block.

20. The process according to claim 17 , wherein the coating is composed of at least one compound selected from compounds of the nitride, boride, carbide, oxide, hydride, carbonitride, borocarbide or graphite type or of any mixture of these various compounds.

21. The process according to claim 17 , further comprising attaching a diamond wafer of the PDC (Polycrystalline Diamond Compact) or TSP (Thermally Stable Polycrystalline diamond) type to a surface of the block.

22. The process according to claim 17 , wherein the dense cermet material contains particles of natural or synthetic diamond.