What makes diamond so excellent for drilling?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the properties of diamond that make it particularly effective for drilling applications. Participants explore various material characteristics such as hardness, toughness, and structural properties, while questioning the comparative advantages of diamond over other materials.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Technical explanation, Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants note that diamond's primary property is its hardness, which is essential for drilling tools.
  • Others highlight that diamond's hardness allows it to drill into other hard materials, but caution that using a hard material with a soft drill bit can lead to damage.
  • A participant mentions the brittleness of diamond, suggesting that while it is very hard, it may not be superior to all other materials for drilling, raising questions about the rate of bit replacement.
  • Another participant proposes that diamond's effectiveness in drilling may be linked to its tetrahedral lattice structure, which is considered strong, but admits uncertainty regarding the microscopic-level explanations.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying views on the superiority of diamond for drilling, with some asserting its advantages while others question whether it is definitively better than all other materials. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the comparative analysis of diamond's properties.

Contextual Notes

Participants acknowledge the complexity of material properties and the difficulty in predicting performance based on characteristics like hardness and toughness. There are references to external sources that may provide additional insights, but these are not universally accepted as definitive explanations.

PippaBG
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I know about the strong covelant bonds, but just why is diamond so much better than any other material for drilling?
 
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It is difficult to say precisely!
As far as i know the main property of diamond is hardness, which makes it essential for the using in drilling tools.
 
Very hard material, meaning you can drill other hard materials. Only the high wear surfeces are coated in it.

Hard material + soft drillbit = ruined drillbit
 
PippaBG said:
I know about the strong covelant bonds, but just why is diamond so much better than any other material for drilling?

That's a good question- material properties like 'hardness', 'toughness', and 'strength' are difficult to predict. Diamond appears to be very hard but very brittle- see for example

www.lbl.gov/ritchie/Library/PDF/Drory_diamond_APL.pdf

and

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TWV-44S5BHG-38&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1155472086&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=883d11657f603b8918ef6c890ddbe287


I suspect this relates to the rate a diamond bit must be replaced. I'm not sure it is 'better than any other material'.
 
Let's see... for drilling, you're basically trying to get the drill bit to scratch away the material you're drilling into, and not the other way around. Diamond is better at scratching (and harder to scratch away itself) than any other natural material. But as for the microscopic-level physical explanation of that property? I'd imagine it has a lot to do with the tetrahedral lattice, which is generally a very strong structure... but I couldn't say much in detail.
 

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