Diamond, said to be the hardest of all substances because of excellent hardness, has been used in numbers of industrial applications, synthetic diamond powders for surface grinding, lapping and polishing, monocrystalline diamond plate MCD HPHT and CVD-M for ultra-high precision workpieces, CVD diamond polycrystalline (CVD-P) for dressing tools, heat spreading and optical windows, and the polycrystalline diamond PCD sintered with carbide base for turning tools, milling tools, drills and reamers in woodworking and non-ferrous metals.
As Cubic Boron Nitride (CBN) is second to diamond in hardness on the earth, has high wear resistance and high thermal stability, to be complementary to diamond, CBN is used in machining ferrous materials like steel and iron. CBN micron powder can be further sintered to polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN), including solid PCBN and PCBN compact, as cutting tools.