Patent ID: 7264879

Claim:
A composite construction having an ordered arrangement of first and second material phases, the construction being formed by the process of: combining one or more precursor materials selected from the group consisting of ceramics, metals, diamond, cubic boron nitride, and mixtures thereof to form a green-state first material phase part; combining one or more materials to form a green-state second material phase part, wherein one of the first or second material phase parts does not include a ceramic material; joining together a number of the first and second green-state material phase parts to form a green-state assembly, wherein at least one of the first and second green-state material phase parts are commonly oriented within the assembly; and consolidating and sintering the green-state assembly at high pressure/high temperature conditions to form the composite construction; wherein the sintered first material phase has a hardness that is relatively greater than the sintered second material phase in the composite construction.