Diamond Wire Cutting
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Diamond Wire Cutting (DWC)is the process of using wire of various diameters and lengths, impregnated with diamond dust of various sizes to cut through materials. Because of the hardness of diamonds, this cutting technique can cut through most any material that is "softer" than the diamond abrasive. DWC is also practical and less expensive than other cutting techniques, for example, thin diamond wire only costs around 20 cents per foot in 2005, to manufacture and sells around $1.25 a foot or more, compared to solid diamond impregnated blade cutters costing thousands of dollars. Thus a 1000 foot spool of diamond wire costs around 200 dollars to manufacture and sells for around $1,250. Selling cost may vary because of wire grade and demand. example of DWC by DOE
[edit] Advantages
DWC produces less kerf and wasted materials. On very expensive materials, this could save hundreds or thousands of dollars of waste. Unlike slurry saws that use bare wire and contain the cutting material in the cutting fluid, DWC uses only water or some fluid to lubricate, cool the cut, and remove debre. On some materials DWC may not need water or cutting fluid, thus leaving a clean dry cut.
[edit] Disadvantages
Diamond wire cutting does have the problem of being less robust (snapping when fatiqued, bent, jammed or tangling) than solid cutting blades. Because of the unique nature of DWC, most saws are expensive and are tailor made to handle Diamond Wire. Most commercial saws can also utilize solid blades augmentented with diamond dust and thus may be more economical to operate. Another problem is when the wire breaks in say, the middle of a 1000' reel leaving two 500' reels thus causing up to twice the saw direction change cycles to do the same cut and wearing out the wire quicker. If the wire breaks more towards the end, there is the possiblity of the shorter piece of wire being usless and unusable. Because the abrasive is mechanically attached to the wire, there is the trend to lose cutting effectiveness after a few cuts because most of the abrasive is worn off the wire.
