Do diamonds cut glasses?

by

Jamesallen

The question whether diamond can cut glasses has for long been a controversial one though the dominant opinion is diamond can cut. Scientifically speaking, diamond is more than 160 times harder than glass and diamonds are the hardest substance known to man and as such, diamonds can cut many relatively softer materials including glass.

Diamonds enjoy a ranking a maximum 10 on the Mohs scale (the scale generally used for measuring hardness of materials). Since this makes diamonds harder than glass as glass ranks only six or seven on the Mohs scale, it is possible for diamonds to cut glass. If a diamond is applied to glass and dragged down on the surface firmly with adequate pressure, it will normally scratch or leave a cut in the glass.

If you are imagining, like you see in cartoons that you can use a diamond to cut a piece of glass – then the answer is a resounding No. This is not possible and you can use a diamond only to scratch the surface of a piece of glass to facilitate a neat break. This type of scratch will weaken the surface of the glass at that place so that it will break clean along the line of your scratch.

To state facts unambiguously, diamonds will only leave a pronounced mark of scratching or cutting on any glass, but a diamond will not break glass into pieces. However, after using a diamond to scratch the surface of a piece of glass, it may be possible to then exert extra pressure on the glass to make it break along the line that the diamond cut.

It may therefore be asserted, without fear of contradiction, that it is possible for a diamond to help cut glass, but not to break it into fragments. But this method of trying to break glass with a diamond piece is not a proper method to determine the authenticity of diamonds. Any such experiment may only result in damaging the diamond since diamonds are vulnerable to chipping despite their known hardness.

The other reason why this is a bad test is diamonds have cleavage that means they have certain areas of weakness in their structure. Therefore, if you try to use a gem diamond to cut glass, you might as well chip the stone along the cleavage area and possibly damage the stone in the process.

Of course, there are diamond saw blades available in the market that are metal impregnated with industrial diamond dust around their perimeter that will actually cut glass. The only effective means of cutting glass with a fancy edge is to use a power tool designed for that purpose.

A diamond saw blade has diamonds fixed on the blade’s base for using the diamonds to cut tough and/or abrasive materials. There are many types of diamond blades used in different industries.

Construction industry uses diamond saw blades to cut stone, concrete, asphalt, bricks, glass and ceramics. The IT industry uses diamond saw blades to cut semiconductor materials and the gem industry uses the diamond saw blade to cut all types of gem stones including diamonds.

James Allen is an expert author for

Diamond engagement rings

, Engagement ring, Butterfly rings, Diamond rings. He was written many articles like Loose Diamonds,

Diamonds

, Certified diamonds, Wedding rings. For more information visit Jamesallen.com

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