Influenza delle caratteristiche della roccia sulle prestazioni del filo diamantato

It is generally believed that the performance of diamond wire employed in stone qurrying for the production of squared blocks strongly depends on the material's hardness. Although this seems roughly confirmed by quarrying operations, in reality this is a rather complex issue, suggesting that a more accurate basis should be used for a reliable prediction of industrial results and especially for establishing a driving strategy aimed at the real-time optimisation of the system. Aside from the difficulty in determining the hardness of heterogeneous matrials, a simple analysis of the cutting process leads to the conclusion that a number of rock properties, such as for istance mineral composition and crystal size, should be incorporated into a predictive model and that their influence varies as a function of machine setting. In order to obtain a sufficient number of data to be statistically processed for developing the simulation model, a systematic experimental investigation of industrial significance has been carried out on a variety of granite materials at the DIGITA laboratories using a diamond wire frame saw, varying the chief operating parameters. Diamond wire cutting rate and wear as well as power consumption have been measured for each test as a function of time. Data have been processed using a multiple regression approach to obtain appropriate mathematical relationships for determining the influence of the operating parameters. The paper discusses the interesting findings that emerged from this investigation and attempts to provide a scientific interpretation of the experimental results.