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New steel-cutting wire from Widecut
Korean diamond tool manufacturer Widecut has taken a bold and far-sighted decision to add another product to its already impressive range. The new wire, marketed as HT-2, is designed to cut straight steel and extremely heavy reinforced concrete. PDi’s Ahn Sung reports.
As the world economy fell on hard times, many companies went on the defensive, slashing all investments and shunning any expansion ideas, just to preserve their hard-won market positions. This cautious approach may now seem what doctor Greenspan ordered, but whether they find themselves at the forefront of the industry when the recession is over, remains questionable. According to a raft of reputable business analysts and consultants, the companies that have chosen to increase their research and development and marketing budget during the crisis, rather than cut down on it, have a far better chance to spearhead the recovery and secure a better slot in the market than those who have opted to skimp and save.
New wire from Widecut
Korea-based Widecut undoubtedly, belongs in the latter proactive category. Widecut is a specialist manufacturer that focuses exclusively on making premium quality diamond wires and beads for construction and stone extraction industries. 2009 turned out to be just as gruelling for the Koreans as for any other in the industry, but at the height of the global slowdown Widecut took a bold and far-sighted decision to add another product to its already impressive range. The new wire, marketed as HT-2, is designed to cut straight steel and extremely heavy reinforced concrete. Steel cutting with diamond wires is a relatively new business, which nonetheless harbours strong potential.
So far, this segment has been all but monopolized by a few major European companies. Widecut entered into the scramble by introducing a product to rob the Europeans of their previously unchallenged dominance. “When developing HT2, we aimed to not just enhance our position on the global market, but rather we were chasing a dream of creating a wire capable of solving the most demanding and imaginative demolition tasks,” says Widecut president John Han. “The diamond wire technology was first invented to extract stone at quarries, then it was upgraded to cut construction materials. Likewise, our wires, which are built to cut regular building elements, may soon be able to take down a structure of Godzilla proportions. I look forward to one day seeing something like an entire metal bridge being cut in one sitting with a Widecut wire.”
Many structures made of steel
Steel is second only to concrete for use in construction. There are many structures made solely of steel, such as bridges, hangars, water tanks and furnaces. Customized diamond wire can become a tool of choice when dismantling or altering steel structures. Steel cutting is often required during decommissioning or rehabilitation of nuclear or hydropower plants and offshore oil installations. The hull of a salvaged ship, out-of-service submarine or aircraft can be sliced up like a slab of cheese this technique. There is ample opportunity to make use of steel-sawing wires, and many suppliers see this business as very lucrative. In Widecut’s estimation, global demand for this particular tool currently reaches 6,000 to 8,000m/month.
Specific manufacturing challenges
The manufacturing process for steel cutting wires has its specific challenges, which many producers of diamond tools still tend to shrink from. The key to efficient steel cutting is a bead with very high concentration of diamonds in its working layer. At the moment three basic approaches towards bead making exist. These are sintering and brazing, which are high temperature processes, and electroplating. Sintered beads are believed unable to cut steel structures of any substantial size due to insufficient concentration of diamond particles. Conversely, brazed and electroplated beads, both having higher diamond content, have proved more suitable to large steel cutting jobs. However, in Widecut’s experience, the electroplated wires show superior performance to the brazed ones. An electroplated bead consists of a steel core with a single high-density diamond layer deposited on it. The layer surface should be as even as possible, its cohesion with the steel substrata very strong. If these vital criteria are not met, diamonds will chip out under extreme friction soon after the wire is put to work. So far, only a handful of companies in the world have successfully harnessed the electroplating technology for diamond tool production. With HT2, Widecut slipped seamlessly into their privileged ranks.
Widecut’s HT2, which is complete with 2° conical electroplated beads, is available in two of 40 and 48 beads/m. The 40-bead specification allows for fast cutting, while the 48 one is designed for extended life. When the manufacturer pilot tested HT2 against a number of competitive brands, it outperformed them all in cutting speed and durability. “Before HT2 came along, a notion persisted in the market that only tools of European origin were good enough for difficult tasks like steel cutting,” says John Han. “We managed to dispel this preconception by offering a product, whose quality even the staunchest advocate of European standards could appreciate.” Widecut’s production capacity for HT2 is 800m/month at the moment, but the manufacturer looks to increase it up to 1,500m by early 2010 to meet the growing demand.
www.widecut21.co.kr
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