The mechanics of sawing granite with diamond wire

Today, wire sawing of natural stone is undergoing widespread commercialization. In addition to rock extraction and processing with single wires, composed of a multitude of diamond-impregnated beads mounted onto a steel rope, this technology is increasingly used for slabbing of granite blocks on multi-wire machines. Evolving sophistication of stone sawing equipment dictates novel tool designs and formulations. For technologists specifying bead compositions, it is a common habit to instinctively follow the circular saw segment design guidelines. A poor tool performance is often an undesirable consequence of such an approach. To meet that challenge, theoretical models of sawing granite by means of a diamond wire saw and a diamond circular saw have been presented and contrasted with respect to diamond loading conditions. The analytical treatments are supported by scarcely available industrial quantitative assessments and qualitative observations. The evaluation of cutting forces and the identification of system characteristics affecting wire vibration and wire rotation are instrumental in both machine design and tool formulation. For practitioners working with granite, the provided knowledge is also essential to diagnose and prevent problems inherent in wire sawing, such as the high incidence of wire breakage, unsatisfactory tool life and cutting capability and eccentric bead wear. Graphical abstract

The mechanics of sawing granite with diamond wire

A theoretical model of sawing granite by means of a diamond wire saw, composed of a multitude of diamond-impregnated beads mounted onto a steel rope, is presented. The wire sawing process has been contrasted with circular sawing with respect to diamond loading conditions. The analytical treatments have been supported by industrial quantitative assessments and qualitative observations. The evaluation of cutting forces as well as identification of system characteristics affecting wire vibration and wire rotation are instrumental in both machine design and tool formulation. This knowledge is also useful to diagnose and prevent problems inherent in diamond wire sawing of granite, such as the high incidence of wire breakage, unsatisfactory tool life and cutting capability, eccentric bead wear, etc.

Mathematical model of a remote monitoring module by mechanical impact measuring channels on an overhead power line

This paper focuses on developing a mathematical model of a remote monitoring module by mechanical impact measuring channels on an overhead power line.The mathematical model simulatessag angle monitoring,wire break, wire vibration, and conductor gallopingprovided that one half-wave is forming at one power line span. The proposedmathematical model has been implemented as part of control tools at an electric power supply company.

Precision EDM of Micron-Scale Diameter Hole Array Using in-Process Wire Electro-Discharge Grinding High-Aspect-Ratio Microelectrodes

Micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) is a good candidate for processing micro-hole arrays, which are critical features of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), diesel injector nozzles, inkjet printheads and turbine blades, etc. In this study, the wire vibration of the wire electro-discharge grinding (WEDG) system has been analyzed theoretically, and, accordingly, an improved WEDG method was developed to fabricate micron-scale diameter and high-aspect-ratio microelectrodes for the in-process micro-EDM of hole array with hole diameter smaller than 20 μm. The improved method has a new feature of a positioning device to address the wire vibration problem, and thus to enhance microelectrodes fabrication precision. Using this method, 14 μm diameter microelectrodes with less than 0.4 μm deviation and an aspect ratio of 142, which is the largest aspect ratio ever reported in the literature, were successfully fabricated. These microelectrodes were then used to in-process micro-EDM of hole array in stainless steel. The effects of applied voltage, current and pulse frequency on hole dimensional accuracy and microelectrode wear were investigated. The optimal processing parameters were selected using response–surface experiments. To improve machining accuracy, an in-process touch-measurement compensation strategy was applied to reduce the cumulative compensation error of the micro-EDM process. Using such a system, micro-hole array (2 × 80) with average entrance diameter 18.91 μm and average exit diameter 17.65 μm were produced in 50 μm thickness stainless steel sheets, and standard deviations of hole entrance and exit sides of 0.44 and 0.38 μm, respectively, were achieved.

Wire Vibration Modeling and Experimental Analysis for Wire Saw Machining

Surface roughness is the key index point of wire saw processing silicon carbide (SiC). Many factors influence wafer surface quality, which is determined by the motion of the wire relative to the part. The vibration characteristic of wire saw and the process parameters are concerned factors in this paper, which presents a wire vibration model to study the wire saw vibration law. Experimental studies of a stationary wire are conducted to calibrate the damping coefficient and experimental studies of a moving wire are used to validate the developed model. Simulation, theoretical, and experimental data for wire vibrations during a variety of machining processes are found to compare very well, and the effects of various wire saw process parameters are investigated to analyze the influences of process parameters on wire vibration. It was shown that increasing the wire tension and feed rate, or decreeing the wire length, decreases the wire's first dominant frequency, and that changes in the wire velocity had a negligible effect. Finally, the measurement of the surface morphology and wire saw vibrations for different processing parameters was conducted, and it was seen that increases in the wire velocity and wire tension increases part surface quality and decreases processing time, while an increase in the feed rate decreases both part surface quality and processing time. The results show a clear correlation between the amplitude of the wire vibration outside of the processing zone and the part surface quality.

An experimental parametric analysis on performance characteristics in wire electric discharge machining of Inconel 718

Wire cut electrical discharge machining was identified as a good alternative to conventional machining for machining super alloys that possess low machinability. In the present work, effect of wire tension along with current, pulse on time, and pulse off time on the performance characteristics such as spark gap, surface roughness, amplitude of wire vibration, and cutting rate were studied in wire cut electrical discharge machining of Inconel 718 metal. Experiments were conducted at five levels of the process parameters as per orthogonal array of L25 and their results were collected. These experimental results were analyzed and the interaction effect of wire tension along with current, pulse on time, and pulse off time on performance characteristics was studied using analysis of variance. Response models were developed for the four responses in terms of process parameters and the accuracy of such models was tested. In addition to the above studies, effect of the wire displacement on the kerf size, cutting rate was studied. Spark energy was also estimated for all the experiments and its effect on the performance characteristics was studied. The response models developed in this study were able to predict the experimental results i.e. amplitude of wire vibration, surface roughness, cutting rate, and spark gap with an accuracy of R2 values of 1.0, 0.96, 0.88, and 0.99, respectively. Interaction effect of current and wire tension was found to have the most significant effect on the amplitude of cutter vibration and surface roughness.