Diamonds are renowned for their beauty and value as gemstones. However, diamond as a material also offers another highly useful industrial value, as it is the hardest natural material on the planet.
It doesn’t seem unreasonable to wonder whether diamonds are bulletproof, since diamond is the world’s hardest natural material. Diamonds are not however bulletproof in general, as while they are hard, they are not particularly tough and their brittleness will cause them to shatter when struck by a bullet.
Theoretically with a large enough diamond and a small enough bullet, it’s possible for the diamond to absorb the bullet’s impact without shattering. This would be a case of extremes though and not applicable to the majority of diamonds.
Hardness versus toughness
Hardness and toughness are terms that mean very different things in relation to a diamond. Hardness refers to a material’s ability to resistant scratching, while toughness refers to a material’s ability to resist breaking.
Glass for instance is a harder material than some metals but not as tough, as it resists scratching more than the metals but will break under less pressure.
Diamond is a 10 on the Mohs scale, which is a scale for measuring mineral hardness. This represents the highest point on the scale.
Toughness on the other hand is a measure of how well a material resists breaking or shattering and while diamond is an exceptionally hard material, it’s not particularly tough. It is possible to fracture or shatter a diamond when hitting it with a hammer or attempting to cut it.
Diamonds are brittle, which means they can shatter easily under impact. This is why diamond cutters have historically had to be extremely careful when cutting diamonds by hand.
Diamonds have perfect cleavage, which refers to how strongly the diamond molecules bind together across particular planes. A perfect cleavage plane means the mineral will separate easily along the plane if struck correctly.
If done correctly, a larger diamond crystal can be separated into smaller pieces for cutting gemstones, but if the diamond crystal isn’t struck correctly, it can shatter. This impact is comparable to diamond being struck by a bullet, as its brittle nature will more often than not cause the diamond to shatter under the bullet’s impact.
As mentioned above, it’s not impossible for a diamond to resist the impact of a bullet and for that particular diamond to be “bulletproof” on that particular occasion. However, that’s not to say it wouldn’t shatter with a second bullet impact.
A particular set of factors would have to come into play for a diamond to be bulletproof, including the diamond’s thickness, the type of bullet, the range from which the bullet is fired, and so forth. It’s far more likely that the diamond would shatter in any given instance when being struck by a bullet.
A diamond armor suit?
SuitArt created the world’s most expensive custom-tailored suit known as the Diamond Armor. The suit costs a cool US$3.2 million, so what makes it so expensive?
Well, in addition to the tailored style, it’s a bulletproof, waterproof suit studded with diamonds. Oh, and it features its own integrated air conditioning system too.
The bulletproof nature of the suit is courtesy of the fabric that was developed by Croshield, a manufacturer of body armor. It provides level II protection certified by NATO standards.
The suit is studded with 880 black diamonds. The diamonds undeniably add a level of pure luxury to the suit, though their value lies in their aesthetic appeal and monetary value, not any ability to deflect bullets.
Without question, it’s the fabric doing the hard work of providing bulletproof protection to the wearer. There’s a reason body armor doesn’t use diamonds; in addition to the high cost, it’s simply not effective.
Manufacturers won’t be turning their attention to body armor utilizing diamonds for bulletproof properties any time soon. Still, for the ultimate style-meets-body-armor combo, the Diamond Armor is hard to beat.
Not impossible but highly unlikely
As with most things, a case of extreme circumstances may result in a diamond being bulletproof. If the diamond is big enough and the bullet is small enough, it’s not impossible that the diamond will resist the bullet’s impact sufficiently to not shatter.
In most cases, however, a diamond will not be bulletproof because it is too brittle to withstand the bullet’s impact. A diamond is undeniably hard but it’s brittle and not overly tough, so it will most likely shatter if struck by a bullet.