How does a diamond saw blade work?

• A diamond saw blade does not cut but works by milling. When the tool is given its edge in the factory,
the individual diamond crystals are exposed on the leading edge and the sides of the segment or rim. It
is these exposed diamonds which carry out the milling.

• The metal matrix holds each diamond in place. Whilst working,
each diamond is shouldered at the back by a "comet's tail"
which reinforces the supporting action of the bond.
 
• Whilst the blade is rotating on the saw shaft, the operator pushes the blade into the material. The
surface diamonds thus exposed mill a groove in the material, reducing it to fine powder. Whilst the
blade mills the material, the latter exerts wear on the blade.

• During cutting the exposed diamonds may crack or break (all
the more rapidly, the harder and denser the material). The
material simultaneously starts to abrade the metal matrix, which
gradually releases more diamonds. The more abrasive the
material, the more rapid the tendency to wear down the matrix.
 
• With a diamond tool properly matched to the material being cut,
the equilibrium between the work of the diamond and the
resistance of the bond to abrasion is at its optimum: the
diamond is held in place until it is destroyed and new crystals
appear. The whole quality of a diamond tool resides in this
equilibrium.
 
• Blades intended for cutting hard, dense less abrasive materials
(such as tiling, hard bricks, stone or old hard concrete), require
a softer metal matrix. This will wear down faster, replacing the
worn diamonds fairly quickly so that the blade continues to cut.
 
• Diamond Blades intended for cutting soft, abrasive materials (like green concrete and asphalt) must have a hard,
abrasion-resistant metal matrix in order to retain the diamonds for a greater length of time.