Determination of optimum working condition and development of cuttability abacus for a limestone and real marble sample in diamond wire cutting

Abstract

Diamond wire cutting is the most applied method in natural stone quarry for block production. The most important parameters in diamond wire cutting performance are the wearing on diamond beads and cutting rate. Measuring these performance parameters under field conditions and making the necessity analysis are time consuming and difficult studies. Therefore, single bead test machine that can best reflect the field conditions was developed in Hacettepe University Department of Mining Engineering. By means of this machine, cuttings in different rotations of diamond bead and natural stone sample in an interval that can reflect the cutting behavior of the diamond bead under field conditions can be performed. The aim of this study is to determine optimum working conditions and to develop cuttability abacuses in diamond wire cutting with single bead test machine for a real marble and a limestone sample. The rock samples used in cuttings were prepared with exclusively designed core drill and they had an inner diameter of 60 mm, outer diameter of 300 mm and thickness of 50 mm. Cuttings were performed with single bead test machine at four different rotation speeds of diamond bead (1600, 1800, 2000 and 2200 rpm) and four different rotation speeds of natural stone sample (200, 240, 270 and 300 rpm) with constant load value of 2 kg. These two parameters reflect the peripheral speed and hoop rotation of the diamond wire which are the main working parameters in the field. Cuttability abacuses for diamond wire cutting in terms of the cutting rate and unit wear on diamond bead were developed by using special Statistical Software (Design Expert 7.0) for real marble and limestone samples by using the results. These abacuses would contribute to natural stone industry for more efficient usage of diamond wire cutting machine. By using them, it is easy to determine the cutting performance parameters in different working parameters before starting the cutting operation with diamond wire. © 2011 ARMA, American Rock Mechanics Association.