Diamond is a pure carbon in a cubic structure. It is the hardest of all known materials. Many applications benefit by the use of diamond tools in industry for grinding, turning, sawing, lapping, wear resistance, etc. As it enables faster operating, extended tool's life and allows very accurate tolerances of shape and size. Use in industry are either "natural" diamond extracted from the ground, crushed and shaped to suit a particular requirement, or "synthetic" man made diamond specially for specific application. Diamond is made and graded according to its size, shape, and friability.

Diamond Applications

Diamond is used for cutting or grinding hard, brittle and abrasive materials, but it is not suitable for grinding high carbon-steel. This is because iron has an affinity for carbon (which is what diamond is) at a high temperature.

Diamond tools are used for grinding hard or very abrasive materials, such as:

Tungsten carbide	Fiberglass
Stone and marble	Ferrite
Composite materials	Non-ferrous metals
Industrial ceramics	Rubber
Re-inforced plastics	Glass

CBN Applications

Cubic boron nitride (CBN) is man made.
It is a chemical bond of the elements boron and nitrogen with cubic lattice structure made in a high temperature / pressure process. It is available in different grades and sizes and is particularly designed for grinding hardened steels. CBN is second only to diamond in its hardness.

CBN is used for grinding high carbon steels (over 0.7%), such as:

High-speed steel	Stainless steel
Tool steel	Ball bearing steel
Die steel	Nickel super alloys
Cobalt or nickel based hard high-temperature materials

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