Optimum cutting speed of block-cutting machines in natural stones for energy saving

Energy consumption of block-cutting machines represents a major cost item in the processing of travertines and other natural stones.Therefore,determining the optimum sawing conditions for a particular stone is of major importance in the natural stone-processing industry.An experimental study was carried out utilizing a fully instrumented block-cutter to investigate the sawing performances of five different types of travertine blocks during cutting with a circular diamond saw.The sawing tests were performed in the down-cutting mode.Performance measurements were determined by measuring the cutting speed and energy consumption.Then,specific energy was determined.The one main cutting parameter,cutting speed,was varied in the investigation of optimum cutting performance.Furthermore,some physico-mechanical properties of the travertine blocks were determined in the laboratory.As a result,it is found that the energy consumption (specific energy) of block cutting machines is highly affected by cutting speed.It is determined that specific energy value usually decreases when cutting speed increases.When the cutting speed is higher than the determined value,the diamond saw can become stuck in the travertine block; this situation can be a problem for the block-cutting machine.As a result,the optimum cutting speed obtained for the travertine mines examined is approximately 1.5-2.0 m/min.