Cutting element with improved material toughness

A cutting element which has a cutting table 14 made up of segments 16/18 of an ultra hard material. Each segment 16/18 may be made from a finer or a coarser grade of ultra hard material where the coarser is said to aid the cutters toughness and the finer to aid the cutters resistance to abrasion. The segments 16/18 are aligned side by side over a cutting face 12 of the cutting element to form the cutting table 14. The material grade and/or material type of each segment 16/18 may alternate across the cutting face. The segments 16/18 may also be arranged in a number of configurations for example concentric rings, linear chordwise strips, parallel strips and spiral strips.