Diamond Segments and Pads

A diamond segment is a hard abrasive element on a metal bond (metal-bond), welded or brazed onto a saw blade or a grinding head — it works aggressively for stripping, cutting and initial grinding of concrete or stone. A diamond pad is a flexible disc on a resin bond (resin-bond), usually attached with hook-and-loop backing — it polishes and brings a surface to a shine. A full cycle runs from segments at around 16–50 grit through to polishing pads at 800–3000 grit that produce a satin or mirror finish. A segment strips and cuts; a pad polishes.

Choosing a segment follows the inverse-hardness rule: the harder the material (mature concrete, granite), the softer the bond should be, because it exposes sharp grain faster. Soft, fresh concrete and abrasive screeds need a segment with a hard bond — a soft one would wear away within minutes. Marble and limestone, being more brittle rock, are worked with finer grain, usually above 40 grit and most often wet. If you are unsure about the substrate, a medium-hardness bond segment is a safe starting point.

The number of segments around a blade's rim grows with the diameter. Small blades for angle grinders, 115–230 mm, usually carry 6–10 segments, construction blades at 300–400 mm carry 12–18 segments, and large industrial blades above 500 mm can carry as many as 20–30. Segments sit evenly spaced, with cooling gaps (gullets) between them — harder material means more, narrower segments. The segments and pads in this category are mainly for floor-grinding machines — ready-made cutting blades are in the diamond blades category.

Regenerating (dressing) a segment restores its cutting ability by exposing fresh, sharp diamond grain — usually through ten to several dozen seconds of running against an abrasive dressing block. It is used when a segment has "glazed over" because a bond too hard was matched to a material too hard — the tool then slides across the surface instead of cutting. Dressing restores the tool's sharpness, but it does not work on segments worn almost down to the core, below roughly 1–2 mm of diamond layer — those need to be replaced with new ones.

In concrete-processing terminology, "hard" metal-bond tooling means a metal segment or head on a metallic bond — it works aggressively at low grit, 16–120, and is used for stripping and initial grinding rather than polishing. A resin-bond pad, described as "soft," carries diamond in a flexible resin and works at 200–3000 grit, producing a satin or mirror shine. The full process combines both: it starts with metal tools and finishes with resin pads of progressively finer grain — the higher the pad's grit, the higher the shine.

Planetary grinders work with intermediate backing plates in several sizes — the smallest, 3" and 4" (about 75–100 mm), are used at edges and corners, medium 7" (about 180 mm) on lighter single-head machines, and the largest, 14" (356 mm), on heavier machines for large surfaces — it is in this diameter that we offer the RH hook-and-loop head. The pad size has to match the backing plate's diameter exactly: a smaller pad will not cover the full swept area, and a larger one will rub against the housing. Check the plate diameter in your machine's manual before buying.

Hook-and-loop (velcro) mounting attaches a pad to a head through a hook-and-loop layer — fitting takes a few seconds, needs no tools, and lets you change grit quickly, though the loop backing wears out after a few dozen fittings. Threaded mounting connects a segment or head directly to the machine's spindle through a tapped hole, most often M14 or 5/8", giving a stiffer connection under heavy pressure at the cost of a slower wrench-and-swap change. Pads that change often are mounted on hook-and-loop backing, while segments under load use a thread or snap-lock.

A full concrete polishing cycle usually runs through 5–7 grit stages, and on badly damaged surfaces there can be 8–9. A typical sequence is coarse stripping with a metal segment at 16–40 grit, intermediate grinding at 50–120 grit, finishing grinding at 200–400 grit, and then polishing with resin pads at 800–1500 grit for a satin shine and 1800–3000 grit for a mirror finish. Skipping a stage leaves scratches from the previous step visible only once the surface is glossed. Between grinding and polishing, a silicate hardener is applied to seal the concrete's pores.

Tyrolit segments and heads are fitted using universal mounting standards — hook-and-loop backing in a given diameter, most often 3", 4", 7" or 14" (356 mm), or an M14/5/8" thread — so they fit machines from other brands as long as the mounting plate shares the same diameter and mounting type. Differences between manufacturers mainly concern plate thickness and segment height, and a mismatch changes the pressure on the surface. Before fitting a Tyrolit segment to another machine, check the plate diameter and mounting type in the manual.

A pad set's lifespan is measured in square metres of surface processed, not in days — a typical resin-bond pad set covers anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand m², depending on grit and concrete hardness. Low-grit pads, 200–400 grit, wear out faster than high-grit pads, 1500–3000 grit, because they work under heavier pressure on a rougher surface. With a crew covering a few hundred m² daily, one set of pads at a given grit usually lasts several to a dozen working shifts.