Abstract
It is expected for wire-sawing to keep cutting performance by successive supply of cutting edges. The performance of wire-sawing in vacuum has been investigated for lunar and planetary explorations. In this report, cutting power was measured in vacuum. An octagonal load cell with strain gauges was mounted under the workpiece holder to measure the principal and normal forces simultaneously. The normal force was applied with a constant load spring. The wire speed was varied from 0.3 to 1.0 m/s. The principal force in vacuum was slightly larger than that in air and was constant in the measured range. Consequently, the cutting power was proportional to the wire speed.
