Composite of metal-bonded cubic boron nitride and a substrate and process of preparation

In a process for cementing a quantity of cubic boron nitride particles together and bonding the cemented cubic boron nitride particles to a substrate to form a composite abrasive article wherein an assembly comprising a volume of said cubic boron nitride particles, substrate precursor material, an aluminum atom-yielding medium and containment means therefor is provided in a stabilized geometry and said assembly of stabilized geometry is hot-pressed by the simultaneous application thereto of heat and pressure, said hot-pressing being at a temperature substantially in excess of the melting point of said aluminum atom-yielding medium and at a pressure sufficiently high to cause molten aluminum atom-yielding medium to infiltrate the interstices between said cubic boron nitride particles, the improvement comprising:

• (a) deriving said substrate and the aluminum atom-yielding medium for said cubic boron nitride particles from a single multi-component source, said multi-component source comprising a mixture of ceramic particles and particles of said aluminum atom-yielding medium, the latter being present in a quantity between about 30 and 60 percent of the volume of the completed composite abrasive article.