Design of a thin circular sawblade for natural stone sawing process

Abstract

The existing crisis has accentuated problems related to the energetic perspective which forces the industrial framework to take actions. Natural stone companies are those more deteriorated by the crisis since they depend on the construction sector. While it is true that embedded energy in the natural stone industry includes extraction, transport and processing stages, the abrasive effect of sawing and polishing activities is responsible for the most energy consumption in stone manufacture. For this reason, improving sawing processes could have a major impact on the natural stone sector. This article presents a design of a new thinner diamond segmented circular sawblade for marble sawing, which reduces energy consumption during the sawing process. First of all, a multi-axis force measurement system was employed to determine the cutting conditions of a conventional diamond segmented circular sawblade under a pre-set configuration. Then, the research team defined a digital prototype of a commercial diamond segmented circular sawblade, and the data extracted from experimental measurements were used to configure the simulation. The simulation provided information about the mechanical performance experienced by the circular sawblade (such as stresses, displacements and eigenfrequencies). Subsequently, the geometry of that commercial circular sawblade was optimised seeking to reduce the moment of inertia while keeping the mechanical performance within safe and functional limits. At the end of the research, it was experimentally demonstrated that the new thinner circular sawblade designed reduces energy consumption during a sawing operation compared to the commercial circular sawblade.