What is diamond blade?
It is always a better option to inspect and choose the right diamond blade for any of your applications. There are many types of diamond blades, and one might get confused in choosing the right one that may be helpful for them. You may have a lot of questions about it, so let us first discuss, what the diamond blade is.
What is Diamond Blade?
A diamond blade is a power saw. It has a round steel core whose edges are coated with tiny diamonds. The diamonds on the edges are strong enough to cut hard and coarse materials. Diamonds blades are a special type of blades that spin around like usual saw blades but work differently. The tiny diamonds on the blade help cut through various types of materials that standard normal saw blades cannot.
Many types of saw blades like hand saw blades are available in market for cutting purpose. To choose the right one according to your need is a real trick, and this is only possible if you know every type in detail of how it is manufactured, and what purpose it is used. Some of the many uses of diamond blades are listed below.
- Cutting Stone
- Ceramics
- Asphalt
- Concrete
- Construction Industry
- Coal Balls
- Bricks
- Glass
- Cutting semiconductors
- Cutting gemstones (like diamonds)
These are some of the major areas where diamond blades are used most frequently. Now let us dive into the different types of diamond blades you can choose from when buying.
Types of Diamond Blades
There is a huge number of applications and materials that call for diamond blades. Diamond blades are typically categorized by two main features their shape and their cutting styles. We will briefly discuss both categories of diamond blades and the types of diamond blades available in them.
Categorization by Shape
Diamond blades are a huge market, and so they are available in three different shapes. These shapes are as follows.
1. Circular Diamond Blade
Circular blade is widely used diamond blade in the market and it is also most liked blade. It is a power-saw using a toothed blade to cut through different materials using a rotatory motion while spinning around the arbor. It is used to cut plastic, metal, wood, and masonry.
2. Gang Saw Blade
The gang saw blade is different in shape, this type of blade contains diamonds connecting on to it and shapes in a long steel plate. It is usually used in the sawmill to make initial cuts in a log and turn the log into wood planks or cants. To saw blocks of raw stones, hundreds and thousands of gangs saw diamond blades are used together.
3. Band Saw Blade
The band saw diamond blade is a long sharp blade that consists of a continuous band of toothed metal. The most common use of the band saw blade is in woodwork, metalwork, and lumbering. It provides excellent results where uniform cutting is required.
Categorization by Cutting Style
Concerning the cutting styles of diamond blades, they are divided into three major types. These types are as follows.
Segmented Rim
Segmented Rim diamond blade gives the roughest cut. It is used mostly to cut through dry applications such as brick, concrete pavers, limestone, masonry, and similar materials.
2. Turbo Rim
As the name suggests, the Turbo rim cuts faster than other types of diamond blades. It is most commonly used to cut wet and dry applications
3. Continuous Rim
Continuous rim diamond blade is called the wet cut blade. It is the slowest of all types of blades; however, it produces the best cutting results than the other types available.
Manufacturing methods of Diamond Blades
At present, there are three main manufacturing methods of diamond blades. a brief overview of manufacturing methods is as follows.
1. Electroplating
Electroplating is one of the methods for the Manufacturing of diamond blades. In this method, diamonds are embedded in a metal coating of Nikel which is then electroplated onto a steel base of the blade. Electroplating diamonds to the saw results in a thinner blade. In comparison to other blades that are micrometers thick, electroplated diamond blades are faster, safer, and provides smooth cutting of fragile materials.
2. Vacuum Brazing
The other manufacturing method is vacuum brazing. In this method, synthetic diamond particles are brazed onto the outside edge of a circular saw blade in a vacuum brazing furnace. There is no metal and diamond mixture in this manufacturing method. All the diamond particles are on the exterior cutting edge of the diamond blade making it perfect for the cutting of various material types. Some of the materials which are easily cut by diamond blades manufactured by vacuum blazing methods are wood, plastic, glass, tiles, irons, masonry, steel, and concrete.
Moreover, the finer the synthetic diamond particles are, the smoother finish they will provide to the materials. If larger diamond particles are used in the blade, it will help in providing a fast-cutting speed but will cause chipping.
3. Sintering
No doubt the most common method of diamond blade manufacturing is sintering. In this method, steel core (which can be of different shapes, according to its application use) and diamond segments are used. For the manufacturing, manufacturers first combine the synthetic diamond crystals with the metal powder and then sinter them.
Usually, there are three types of sintered diamond blades categorized by their different manufacturing methods. Those are: silver brazed diamond blades, laser welded diamond blades, and wholly sintered diamond blades.
Diamond Blade Use in Industries
Diamond blades have applications in many industrial sectors, some of them are listed as follows.
IT and Electronics Industry
Diamond blades are used to precisely cut the silicon chips which is an important part of the electronics industry.
Construction Industry
Materials in the construction industry like concrete and asphalt often need diamond blades for their cutting, manufacturing, and drilling.
Ceramics Industry
In the ceramics industry, grinder blades for tiles are common these days.
Geological Exploration and Mining
Diamond blades are used in the oil and gas industry for mining and drilling bits.
