Quarry tools
Nearly 45 years ago, our experts invented the first diamond wire for the extraction of marble in quarries.
From the entry into service of the first wires at Carrara, success was immediate, in a few months all the quarries abandoned their helical wire sawing installations to make way for the new diamond wire cutting equipment. During the 1980s, this company was the first to introduce a diamond wire into granite quarries. It was an immediate success, to the point that, today most granite quarries have adopted this new procedure.
Wires for marble quarries
Increasing the sawing speed provides the marble producer with an appreciable benefit resulting from reductions in energy and water consumption and operator costs. As an example the increase in speed from 11 to 16 m²/h can bring a benefit in the case of extraction of compact marble (reference: standard sawing cost = 100). To increase the wire sawing speed, we are working on the optimum combination of the best performing diamonds and the most suitable metallic bonds for a material type. This therefore updates solutions for each use.
Wires for granite quarries
Except for small cuts made in marble quarries, all other applications of diamond wires use beads with diamond concretions. For granite quarries, the cables are in general fitted by injection of a vulcanised rubber, whereas cable used in granite and marble sawing works are more often injected with plastic. The more difficult to implement is the rubber injection which is preferred for cables used in granite quarries, for the following reasons:
- The vulcanised rubber adheres better to the beads and support cable, which protects it better from the action of abrasive pastes, in particular when the cable takes up small radii of curvature (beginning and end of quarry cuts).
- The vulcanised rubber easily withstands increases in temperature caused by badly controlled water spraying, which often happens in a quarry, whereas plastic softens and looses its strength properties.
- The flexibility of a cable fitted with rubber is greater, which reduces the risk of irregular wearing of the beads (ovalisation phenomenon).