ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,251,762, issued on March 18, was assigned to SUMITOMO ELECTRIC HARDMETAL CORP. (Itami, Japan).
"Cutting tool" was invented by Susumu Okuno (Itami, Japan), Shinya Imamura (Itami, Japan), Yuki Rikiso (Itami, Japan), Yasuki Kido (Itami, Japan) and Fumiyoshi Kobayashi (Itami, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A cutting tool comprises a substrate and a coating that coats the substrate, the coating including an Alpha-alumina layer provided on the substrate, the Alpha-alumina layer including crystal grains of Alpha-alumina, the Alpha-alumina layer including a lower portion and an upper portion, the upper portion being occupied in area at a ...