Percent Reduction in Transverse Rupture Strength of Metal Matrix Diamond Segments Analysed via Discrete-Element Simulations

The percent TRS reduction, D , which is the percent reduction of the transverse rupture strength of metal matrix diamond segments with or without diamonds, is a key metric for evaluating the bonding condition of diamonds in a matrix. In this work, we build, calibrate, and verify a discrete-element simulation of a metal matrix diamond segment to obtain D for diamond segments with various diamond-grain sizes, concentrations, and distributions. The results indicate that D increases with increasing diamond-grain concentration and decreases with increasing diamond-grain size. Both factors can be explained by the total diamond contact length, the increase of which causes the increase in D . The distribution of diamond grains in segments also strongly influences the increase of D . The use of D as a metric to assess the bonding condition of diamonds in matrixes is not valid unless the diamond-grain size, concentration, and distribution and total diamond contact length are the same for all diamond segments under consideration.