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[Rooster]

i quess that diamond trapped in steel wouldn't have a place to "crack"

tell me if im wrong

[Draxxalon]

All minerals have two ways they "break" - fractures, and cleavage.

Fractures occur at almost any location, and follow no particular pattern.  Diamond is VERY hard to fracture, but it does occur with high amounts of pressure, and/or defects in the material.  (Toughness rating of excellent)

Cleavage is where the mineral will naturally seperate based on the molecular structure of said mineral.   Diamond has four planes of cleavage.   Along said planes of cleavage, Diamond is no tougher than glass (toughness rating of fair).  

Jewelery makers can accidently chip/break diamonds while putting them into rings and other jewelry by accidently applying too much pressure (by hand, no less) along one of these planes of cleavage.

With careful application, you can imbed diamond into other materials to make a rough surface (like our modern diamond saws and drills).   Anywhere where pressure is applied along a plane of cleavage though, the diamond will simply break off.  (This is also why diamond blades and drills do not last forever).

So yes, you could imbed diamond into something, but it doesn't make a very viable piece of armor.  It can make a decent grinding surface, but makes a poor cutting surface (ie - a single plane which you cut with, like a knife).

Diamond is a very resilient material, but only in specific applications.

[dav]

You're wrong.

The brittleness of diamond has to do with its structure.  The way that molecules get aligned to make the crystals produces structural weaknesses.  There is no way that steel can produce enough force to hold them together.  It might keep both pieces of the diamond stuck in steel, but would only provide minimally more (if any) protection - if there was additional protection, it would be from the added thickness of diamond + steel, and wouldn't be remarkably different than rock crystal + steel.

Weapons, I can sort of see, especially for artifact weapons.  But for armor - it just doesn't work.  Sad, I know.

[JayTee]

quote:Originally posted by Rooster:
<STRONG>i quess that diamond trapped in steel wouldn't have a place to "crack"

tell me if im wrong</STRONG>

You could be right there  

Steel with lots of little diamonds embedded in it would be a really strong composite material I imagine.

edit: missed this post...

quote:Originally posted by dav:
[QB]You're wrong.

The brittleness of diamond has to do with its structure.  The way that molecules get aligned to make the crystals produces structural weaknesses.

Okay, so the diamonds in the vicinity of the blow may be shattered, but wouldn't that just dissipate the energy of the blow?

[ November 25, 2006: Message edited by: JayTee ]