An investigation is reported of the performance of diamond impregnated segments in three machining processes - circular sawing of granite with diamond segments, dressing of diamond segments with refractory bricks and surface grinding of diamond segments with an alumina wheel. Two kinds of segments were fabricated by incorporating diamonds (either coated or uncoated) into an iron-based bond matrix. Measurements were made of the horizontal and vertical force components in the machining processes. SEM was used to examine the diamond-matrix bonding states and the ground surfaces of the segments. The changes of forces and segment wear (weight loss and wear performance) were found to be basically consistent for the three machining processes.