The properties and performance of conventional materials and composites are constrained by solubility limits, diffusion coefficients, and compatibility of physical and chemical constituent properties in their phase equilibria. To es-cape these limits, ingenious ways of combining strength, toughness, and wear resistance by way of various coatings and laminations have been de-vised. These coated tools are systematically discarded after only about 10% of their wear tolerance has been used. Tough-Coated Hard Powders (TCHP), patented by EnDurAloy (USA), are hard refractory particles CVD coated with nanoiayers of WC and Co. Con-solidation of TCHP creates an engineered homogeneous cellular structure whose interconnected tough WC-Co "shells" each contain a wear-resistant core (e.g., TiN). In TCHP's, the coating is throughout the tool, not only on the surface, combining the strength, heat resistance, and toughness of cemented carbides with the chemical and abrasion wear resistance of harder materials. As wear progresses, new wear-resistant material continuously replaces the working surfaces and edges of the tool until its geometry reaches its maxi-mum limits. TCHP tools are then reusable many times.