真空環境における岩石のワイヤソー切断加工(第1報)

－基本的な加工特性－

抄録

In-situ analysis is demanded for the investigation of a larger amount of rock samples in future lunar and planetary explorations. Because coolant cannot be used in vacuum environment, tool life will shorten. It is expected for wire-sawing to keep cutting performance due to successive supply of cutting edges in vacuum. The cutting performance was experimentally investigated under various machining conditions such as a wire feeding speed, cutting load and ambient pressure. Cutting debris adhered around grits on a saw wire in vacuum. In addition, nickel bond of the saw wire was adhered onto a rock surface. Then diamond grits slipped on the rock and cutting amount was decreased with a decrease of the vacuum pressure. The wire feeding speed below 1 m/s did not affect the cutting performance and the cutting depth was increased with an increase of cutting load. Saw wires with exposed grits was compared with a nickel-coated one. The cutting depth with the exposed saw wire was larger than that with the non-coated one. The wear of both the saw wires was almost the same. In addition, amount of grit wear was almost the same both in vacuum and air. The non-coated saw wire was preferable for vacuum use rather than the nickel-coated one.