Framework for investigating wire saw rock cutting

Exploiting the fact that the shape of a wire saw in contact with a workpiece (and thus being engaged in the cutting process) approximates the shape of the workpiece itself, a framework for analysing the process of wire saw rock cutting is proposed herein. The concept of rope angle is introduced to allow each bead to be configured with different magnitudes of friction, enabling estimation of the possible deformation of the resulting workpiece. The beads are assumed to be rigid; therefore, the problem of bead wear is not considered. The findings obtained from a physical experiment performed in a controlled laboratory environment are presented, wherein a driving pulley is instrumented to monitor the feed force and speed. To implement the theory in practice, predictions are made using the proposed framework to replicate the experiment. The results suggest that the friction at the bead-workpiece interface was on the order of 10 N-approximately 1% of the machine feed force. This work provides a novel model for a better understanding of the cutting process.