The purpose of the present study is to determine an optimum composition using cheaper powders keeping with high performance of hard rock cutting diamond saw blade. With 50Fe-20(Cu . Sn)-30Co specimen, a part of Co was replaced by Ni(5%, 10%, and 15%, respectively). These specimens were hot pressed and sintered for predetermined time at various temperature. Sintering is performed by two different methods of temperature controlled method and specimen dimension controlled method. In order to determine the property of the sintered diamond saw blade, 3 point bending tester, X-ray diffractometer, and SEM were used. As the Co in the bond alloy was replaced by Ni, the hardness of the specimen increased. Thus the 50Fe-20(CuㆍSn)-15Co-15Ni specimen showed the maximum hardness of 104(HRB). The results of 3 point bending test showed that flexure strength decreased along with increase in Ni content. This is attributed to the formation of intermetallic compound(NiSn) determined by X-ray diffraction. The fracture surface after 3 point bending test showed that diamond was fractured in the specimen containing 0%, 5%, and 10%Ni, and the fracture occurred at the interface between diamond and matrix in the specimen containing 15%Ni. The cutting ability test showed that the abrasive property was not changed in the specimen containing 0%, 5%, and 10%Ni. The optimum composition determined in this study is 50Fe-20(CuㆍSn)-20Co-10Ni.

Distributions of diamond particles protruding on the surface of worn diamond segments in circular saw has been investigated. Scanning electron microscope was used to examine the worn ,surface and radial saw blade wear and grinding ratio was measured. The number of protruded diamond particle was approximately 50% of the total number of particles, and that was independent of diamond particle concentration and table speed. It was also noted that the inter-particle distance did not follow a symmetric function like Gaussian distribution function, instead it fitted well with a probability density function based on gamma function. The distribution of inter-particle spacing, therefore, was analyzed using a gamma function model.