Patent ID: 8602131

Claim:
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.