When researching these, I found examples like hard materials are good for cutting tools and machines. Could you explain what machines in specific and why those are the best choice?
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Hard materials are more or less the only choice of blade for mechanical cutting techniques. This is where you pit two materials against one another to change the shape of one.
Sanding, sawing, scraping, drilling.
To list the tools and machines that do this would take a very long time. There are just too many. A planer, drill, lathe, saw, mill, reamer, tap, shear, scissors, bolt cutters, grinder, knife, you name it.
The harder material is the one which does not indent as easily. A hard blade can push itself into a soft material without deforming itself. This is how knives cut things – the blade can be pushed through the target material without microscopically bending or breaking.
A “tough” material, on the other hand, is one which can absorb a lot of energy without breaking. It may deform a bit, but it doesn’t fall apart. Glass is as hard as steel, but when steel bends glass shatters. Steel is the tougher material.
Soft materials tend to be much tougher, *because* they can deform and therefore absorb energy.
Diamond, as hard as it is, can be smashed by a steel hammer from the local hardware store. The hammer will have an indent, but the diamond cannot deform to absorb the energy and so it breaks.
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