Diamond Wire Cutting for Composites
Takatori has taken their extensive experience in textile cutting and created a machine for precision cutting of composite sheets. The TAC-C series provides high speed, automatic cutting of composite materials.
Diamond wire offers a new solution for cutting core materials, carbon fiber, and other composites. The technology provides numerous advantages over other cutting methods. It is an effective tool for cutting a wide variety of materials quickly and efficiently. While a new innovation for composites, diamond wire is a well-developed technology used for cutting hard, crystalline materials like sapphire and silicon. Takatori has been producing wire saws for about 30 years, and is the world leader in slicing hard materials.
Diamond wire technology:
- Reduces Damage– Diamond wire cutting, while effective for even the hardest materials, is a relatively gentle process when compared to the more aggressive, traditional machining methods. Diamond wire uses a very fine abrasive on a thin wire, and even fast cuts can leave behind pristine edges and surfaces. Delicate feathered edges are possible, with honeycomb cells left completely intact even on the sharpest angles. When cutting carbon fiber, diamond wire offers a fast, clean cut with minimal delamination and damage.
- Minimizes Kerf Loss– Diamond wire is thin, (the current standard for cutting composites is only ~0.350mm in diameter, and thinner wire is widely available) – minimizing material loss. Customers get more parts out of a given quantity of core material with diamond wire cutting, lowering costs.
- Offers speed– Despite the gentle cut and thin wire, diamond wire technology cuts materials at high speed, even in thick and dense cores, carbon fiber, and sandwich panels. The use of a multi-axis industrial robot with the Takatori TWR-300 Robot Wire Saw opens the door to cutting complex shapes on a relatively inexpensive platform, saving time and money.
- Generates Fewer Particles– Diamond wire cutting requires no coolant and only generates a small amount of fine dust.
While new to the composites industry, diamond wire technology has been used extensively in industrial applications for almost 20 years, making it a mature, reliable technology. Contact GTI to learn more about how diamond wire can help you with your application.
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TWR-300 Robot Wire Saw
The Takatori TWR-300 wire saw is a new innovation for the cutting of composite materials including aramid and aluminum honeycomb, sandwich panels, and CFRP including very thick CFRP. Taking advantage of Takatori’s 20 years of experience in wire sawing, the TWR-300 uses diamond-coated wire to cut, resulting in minimal material loss, minimal damage, and significantly reduced particle generation. The current generation of the TWR-300 offers a 300mm x 300mm throat, along with adjustable guide pulleys to allow for fine wire control when cutting thin materials. The machine can run the wire at over 1,500 meters/min, at tensions of up to 90 N. It uses a 0.350mm diameter diamond wire.
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WSD-K2
The WSD-K2 is the first small-scale wire saw from Takatori. Designed for R&D and limited pilot production, the WSD-K2 uses diamond wire to slice workpieces up to 156mm in diameter using 1 to 10 wires. The machine is popular for diamond wire process development, and is used for materials like sapphire, SiC, glass, and more. The physics department at the University of California Santa Barbara use the WSD-K2 to slice bulk crystals of GaN grown by Nobel prize-winning physicist Shuji Nakamura.