Diamonds are widely recognized for their brilliance and status as the hardest natural material on Earth. This often leads to the belief they are indestructible. However, this assumption is not entirely accurate. While diamonds possess exceptional scratch resistance, they are not immune to all forms of damage. Diamonds can chip, crack, or even break under certain conditions. Understanding the difference between hardness and toughness helps clarify why these gemstones, despite their strength, can still be vulnerable.
Hardness Versus Toughness
Hardness is a material’s ability to resist scratching, measured by the Mohs scale. This qualitative scale, ranging from 1 to 10, determines scratch resistance. Diamond sits at the pinnacle of this scale with a rating of 10, making it the hardest known natural substance. Only another diamond can scratch a diamond.
Hardness is distinct from toughness, which refers to a material’s resistance to breaking, chipping, or shattering when subjected to impact or pressure. Consider a ceramic plate, hard and scratch-resistant, yet it shatters if dropped. Similarly, diamonds, despite their extreme hardness, possess brittleness.
This brittleness arises from the diamond’s unique atomic structure. While carbon atoms are strongly bonded, they are arranged in specific planes of weakness, called cleavage planes. If a diamond receives a sharp blow along one of these cleavage planes, it can split or break. This structural characteristic means that even the hardest material can be susceptible to damage from impact.
How Diamonds Can Break
Diamonds can break through several mechanisms. The primary way a diamond can be damaged is through impact along its cleavage planes. These are natural fault lines within the diamond’s crystalline structure where atomic bonds are less strong. A sharp, forceful blow, such as hitting a diamond ring against a countertop or dropping it, can cause the diamond to split or chip.
Internal characteristics, known as inclusions, can also create weak points. Inclusions are tiny imperfections that form during the diamond’s growth process. While many are harmless, large, deep, or surface-reaching inclusions (such as feathers or cavities) can compromise structural integrity. These flaws can act as stress concentrators, increasing the likelihood of damage from impact or pressure.
In rare instances, extreme pressure, like that from a hydraulic press, can also break a diamond. Despite their formation under immense natural pressures, diamonds are brittle. A concentrated force exceeding the diamond’s structural limits, especially along a cleavage plane, can cause it to shatter. While not common in daily wear, this demonstrates diamonds are not impervious to all mechanical force.
Protecting Your Diamond
Protecting a diamond involves mindful handling and ensuring its setting provides adequate security. It is advisable to remove diamond jewelry during activities that could expose it to impact or harsh conditions. This includes sports, manual labor, gardening, or moving heavy objects, as accidental blows against hard surfaces can lead to chipping or breaking. Storing diamond jewelry separately from other pieces is also important to prevent scratching, as diamonds can scratch each other.
The design and condition of the jewelry setting play a significant role in protecting the diamond. Settings that offer more coverage, such as bezel settings, which encircle the diamond with a metal rim, provide substantial protection for the stone’s edges. Prong settings, while popular for maximizing light entry, should be robust; a six-prong setting often offers more security than a four-prong setting, as it provides additional points of contact to hold the diamond. For diamond shapes with vulnerable points, like princess cuts, V-shaped prongs can offer enhanced protection to corners.
Regular professional inspection of diamond jewelry is also a practical measure. A jeweler can check for loose prongs or any signs of wear that might compromise the diamond’s security. Addressing these issues promptly can prevent the diamond from becoming dislodged or sustaining damage from an insecure mounting. Proper storage in a padded box or soft pouch further safeguards the diamond from accidental impacts when not being worn.