Thread: Do diamonds wear

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Might be fracturing, indeed. Even though my worn plate is smooth as compared to a new one, it still seems to have an even coat of diamonds on it.

As I mentioned the screwdriver shaft, a diamond is much harder, yet as repeated striking of the high diamonds with it, perhaps they are being fractured down to the level of the others over time,
Making the plate smoother?

There was a post earlier that showed new vs used dmt plates at like 1000x magnification. What I took away from it was that some diamonds get completely removed, some heavily fracture, and some stay pretty much untouched. The more fractured/removed they get, the less aggressive the cutting action.

I missed that, but it sounds about right. The tough diamonds which resist fracture will go.
Wreaking havok as they do? The ones which will fracture shall. Down to a level, I suppose, which gets smoother as the tips get rounded OR fractured to round?
So HOW are the diamonds affixed to the plate on a DMT325?

Somebody find it. I am just lazy!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I missed that, but it sounds about right. The tough diamonds which resist fracture will go.
Wreaking havok as they do? The ones which will fracture shall. Down to a level, I suppose, which gets smoother as the tips get rounded OR fractured to round?
So HOW are the diamonds affixed to the plate on a DMT325?

Somebody find it. I am just lazy!

Garrett, aka jnats, from japanese-whetstones.com makes his own. I'm not sure exactly how the process works but the steel plate is the base, then nickel is used to adhere them to the steel. Not sure if that helps, but that's the extent of what I know.

Originally Posted by prodigy

Garrett, aka jnats, from japanese-whetstones.com makes his own. I'm not sure exactly how the process works but the steel plate is the base, then nickel is used to adhere them to the steel. Not sure if that helps, but that's the extent of what I know.

Whatever they use, it is TOUGH and holds on to the diamonds! All I could say.

I believe everything in this Universe is subjected to the inevitable force of - entropy.

Originally Posted by Phrank

I believe everything in this Universe is subjected to the inevitable force of - entropy.

entropy is still a member IIRC but hasn't posted in quite some time AFAIK ..........

As far as the durability of diamonds...............

The diamond plates are made by embedding the diamonds in nickel. The steel plates must be copper plated first, then nickel plated. I assume that they place the diamonds then nickel plate over them until the depth is enough to hold the diamonds (relatively) securely. As far as how they get the diamonds uniformly and regularly placed on the plates, I haven't a clue on that one. I'm thinking perhaps they are kept in solution with the nickel plating solution and they just get dispersed evenly across the surface as the nickel is deposited, then cemented in as further nickel is deposited. Or maybe they deposit the diamond with a thicker nickel plate solution help keep the diamond dispersed evenly and in solution then pull it out of that tank and switch to a pure nickel plate tank to finish the nickel deposition.

I think folks misunderstand what hardness means Geologically speaking that is. It just means if you take a mineral with a Mohs hardness of 6 and slide it across a mineral with a Mohs hardness of 7 the mineral with the 6 hardness will leave a streak of itself on the harder stone. However if you slide the 6 over the 7 over and over for many many years it will erode the 7 mineral.

The next time you are outside take a look at the moon. If we didn't have an atmosphere we would look the same probably far worse because we are larger. Erosion has shaped this planet and nothing stands in it's way. The earth is being continually recycled be it from erosion or subduction or tectonic and volcanic forces.

Are diamonds subject to destruction by natural forces? You bet they are. On our planet running water is the greatest shaper of the planet.

Add to that the internal cracks and flaws in individual diamonds and actually some diamonds (probably most) are really fragile. Combine that with chance cleavage and pressure during honing and you wind up with diamond dust.