Diamond blades don't really "cut" like a knife... they grind.
During the manufacturing process, individual diamond crystals are
exposed on the outside edge and sides of the diamond segments or
rim. These exposed diamonds do the grinding work.
The metal bond locks each diamond in place. Trailing behind each
exposed diamond is "bond tail" which helps support the diamond.
While the blade rotates on the arbor shaft of the saw, the
operator pushes the blade into the material. The blade begins to
cut (grind) through the material, whilst the material begins
wearing away the blade (segment).
Exposed surface diamonds score the material, grinding it into a
fine powder.
Embedded diamonds remain beneath the surface.
Exposed diamonds crack or fracture as they cut, breaking down
into even smaller pieces. Hard, dense materials cause the diamonds
to fracture even faster.
The metal bond also begins to wear, allowing new layers of
diamond exposure to continue cutting.
This continuous grinding and wearing process continues until the
blade is "worn out".
Sometimes a small, unusable part of the segments or rim may
remain.
It is important to understand that the diamond blade and the
material must work together for the blade to cut effectively.
In order for a diamond tool to work properly, the diamond type
and the metal matrix must be matched to the material to be cut.