The influence of the thickness of CVD diamond coatings on the adhesion to a substrate, after cooling down from deposition temperature to room temperature, has been studied experimentally and theoretically. Diamond layers have been deposited at 850 degrees C on W substrates by microwave plasma enhanced CVD. Cooling down of the substrate-diamond coating system to room temperature induces thermal stresses, due to different thermal expansion coefficients of coating and substrate. For thick diamond coatings a total and sudden delamination could be observed as a consequence of these stresses. On the contrary thin coatings, produced under identical circumstances, adhered well. These phenomena have been modelled and explained by the use of an energetic criterion for the delamination of a two-layer system under thermal stress. From the model a critical thickness of the coating can be calculated. Above this critical thickness, delamination will suddenly occur. The calculations also predict that for intermediate coating thicknesses delamination can easily be induced by external causes.