Chapter 2 - Machining with diamonds — Theoretical model

Abstract

Interestingly, production of saw blades and drills for stone cutting and construction applications has been identified as the biggest segment accounting for around 61% of the overall consumption of industrial diamonds in Europe. This chapter illustrates the analytical description of machining of a ceramic-type work piece with diamonds in various sawing and drilling operations. In frame sawing, which has long been utilized on a broader scale in sawing stone blocks, the blade is subjected to a reciprocal sawing action at a slow sinusoidal speed with a maximum of around 2 m/s. A diamond wire has become a standard stone quarrying tool. It is also being increasingly used in a variety of stone and concrete sawing operations because of its adaptability to suit most sawing tasks, improved sawn-surface texture, and reduced noise and vibration. The existing theories of sawing of natural stone and ceramic materials discriminate between primary and secondary chip formation processes. The former operates in front of each cutting diamond where the debris is produced by an action of tensile and compressive stresses generated alternately in the work piece by a moving diamond.