This thesis highlights an approach in research and development of diamond materials for use in insert tools. ‘Diamond insert tools’ may be used on different construction jobs for the specific purposes of sawing, coring or grinding on concretes (heterogeneous) and masonry materials like brick and limestone (homogeneous). A diamond insert tool comprises a steel base (such as a saw blade centre, core bit barrel or cup wheel) and cutting elements. These cutting elements are in most cases metal-matrix composite segments with embedded diamond particles, as carriers of extreme hardness and therefore needed abrasive properties. The two principal performance characteristics of an insert tools are cutting speed and lifetime. These characteristics are commonly inverse hence, obtaining a simultaneous increase in cutting speeds and lifetime is proven to be quite challenging. By performing diamond characterisation using the state-of-the-art techniques, the obtained characteristics will be assessed and used to detect the correlation with the insert tools behaviour. Optical microscopy, in conjunction with advanced imaging techniques, will provide insight into the better understanding of diamond wear state of the insert’s active surface throughout its life cycle. These results, influenced by varying geometries of the inserts and in relation with operational parameters like torque, cutting speeds, and feed rates, ensure that the evolution of diamonds’ state and its active failure modes are fully understood. These findings will enable better comprehension of diamond tools behaviour and performance in real-life application.