Prevailing Mechanisms for Circular Sawing of Granites with Diamond Impregnated Segments

Coupled with micro-observations on the worn segment surfaces, which is the main approach followed in past research, a quantitative analysis of the sawing energy and forces was carried out for studying the prevailing mechanisms for circular sawing of granites with diamond impregnated segments. Based on the micro-observations, the wear behavior of the diamond grains can be broadly classified as four types which cannot quantitatively account for the prevailing mechanisms, even though they provide important insights into the sawing process. The quantitative analysis on sawing energy, forces, together with microscopic observations of sawing debris and surfaces produced, suggests that the prevailing mechanism for sawing should be governed by both sliding friction, by which most of the sawing energy is expended, and brittle fracture, by which the workpiece material is mainly removed. The specific energy is found to be proportional to the sliding length per unit volume of material removal.