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Diamond Blade Basics
A diamond blade does not cut, but grinds through the material by exposing diamond at the right
moment just before the old diamond wears away.
The newly exposed diamonds again will wear,
chip, or break out of the metal bond in the segment, while the metal bond is wearing gradually
away to expose new diamond.
This process is repeated over and over until the blade is worn out.
Ideally and to get the maximum life out of a diamond blade, the metal should wear away just at
the right time to expose new diamond for maximum cutting performance.
1.) If
the metal wears away too fast, the diamonds are exposed to soon and get
torn out from the metal bond too
soon. The result is a very short blade life.
2.) If the metal wears away too slow, the
diamonds wear away before new diamond
is exposed that keeps the blade 'sharp'. It is often called a 'glazed
blade'.
Without diamond the blade will
not cut
Abrasive materials like Sandstone and Asphalt will wear the metal bond very fast, hence it should
have a much harder metal bond to resist this abrasion.
The opposite occurs on a hard clay paver.
The clay paver is not abrasive enough to wear the metal bond fast enough to expose fresh diamond,
therefore a different and
much softer alloy is needed for these conditions
The single most important factor for the life of the blade is to match it to the job application and the
ttype of
machine it is being used on. Horsepower, RPM's, Steel and density of material and diamond
quality are just a few other factors that affect performance of a diamond
blade.
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