Patent ID: 7488537

Claim:
A compact that is ceramic impregnated thermally stable self bonded monolithic polycrystalline diamond or cubic boron nitride comprising: a preform, said preform being thermally stable, and composed of self bonded, monolithic, polycrystalline diamond or cubic boron nitride and having an open void volume of from about 2 to 10 percent and substantially no blind void volume, said open void volume being generally in the form of a reticulated network of pores, said reticulated network of pores having walls, wherein more than 95 percent of said pores have a size of less than about 3,000 nanometers, a first amount of energy being required to fracture said preform; and a formed in situ ceramic deposit filling at least about 90 percent of said void volume, said ceramic deposit being formed against said walls and being effectively undissolved and unreacted with said diamond or cubic boron nitride, said formed in situ ceramic deposit being caused by infiltrating a pre-existing said reticulated network of pores with a liquid pre-ceramic and converting the resulting infiltrated liquid pre-ceramic into said formed in situ ceramic deposit, a second amount of energy being required to fracture said compact, said second amount of energy being at least approximately one and one half times said first amount of energy.