If you think diamonds are the best friends for girls, that might be right, but they are also the best choice when cutting concrete.
Diamond grinding wheels are considered an ideal choice for clean, professional concrete cutting. However, there are many different options in terms of type and price.
It is important to understand how diamond grinding wheels work so that you can choose a diamond grinding wheels with the right cut quality and characteristics.
- First of all, the diamond grinding wheels is not actually a diamond grinding wheels (such as a gemstone) made of diamond. Instead, they are blades made of synthetic diamond crystal that can cut anything, including concrete.
- The wear rate of the diamond grinding wheels is controlled by the hardness of the substrate.
- Diamond grinding wheels are used with power tools, depending on the material to be cut. When the diamond grinding wheels rotates at high speed, the abrasive action of the exposed crystal cuts through the entire material. After continued use, the surface diamond will wear and the substrate will begin to fall off, exposing the sharp, new diamond crystal embedded in the matrix.
Choosing the best diamond grinding wheels for cutting concrete
Diamond grinding wheels come in many different sizes and configurations to meet the various requirements of the user. These relate to the thickness of the diamond grinding wheels and the width of the segment. To ensure maximum diamond grinding wheels life and cutting speed, it is important to match the diamond grinding wheels to the material to be cut as much as possible. Even though most diamond grinding wheels are cut to different types of materials, the diamond grinding wheels used to cut reinforced concrete are not necessarily the same as diamond grinding wheels used to cut asphalt or even concrete slabs.
As a basic rule:
• Diamond grinding wheels used to cut relatively soft, abraded, uncured green uncured concrete require hard metal bonding to ensure that the bare diamond is fully utilized before it falls off.
• Blades used to cut hard, non-abrasive concrete require a soft bond to make the substrate more susceptible to erosion, ensuring that sharp new diamonds are exposed when needed.
According to the diamond wheels manufacturer, soft concrete is a material with a compressive strength of 3000 psi, while hard concrete is a material with a compressive strength greater than 6000 psi. Therefore, a diamond grinding wheels with a hard bond force should be used to cut the lower strength concrete, while a diamond grinding wheels with a soft bond force should be used to cut the high psi concrete. Hard aggregates such as quartz and basalt tend to blunt diamond particles very quickly, so you should use a weaker diamond grinding wheels.
Blade performance is also affected by the size of the coarse aggregate in the concrete. When cutting larger aggregates (3⁄4 inches or longer), the diamond grinding wheels will tend to cut and wear more slowly. Pea gravel (less than 3/8 inch) is easier to cut, but the diamond grinding wheels wears faster.
The abrasiveness of concrete depends on the type of sand used in the mixture, with round abrasive grains producing the least abrasiveness and sharp sand sands producing the most abrasive. The clarity of sand depends to a large extent on its source. Natural river sands are usually round and not abraded, while crushed sand in quarries is usually sharp. The more abrasive the sand is, the harder it is to bond.
When and how to cut concrete
Suppose you plan to cut a control seam in concrete, you can cut it one or two hours after it is placed, while it is still green. Or you can wait until it starts to harden all night. The type of diamond grinding wheels selected will depend on the timing of the cut.
Decorative concrete contractors generally prefer to cut concrete on unprocessed concrete because it minimizes random cracks and makes joints as shallow as one inch or less. However, green concrete is softer and more abrasive than solidified concrete. This is because the mixture has not yet been bonded to the mortar. Diamond grinding wheels manufacturers typically offer hard-bonded diamond grinding wheels that are specifically designed to cut green concrete.
Another option is between dry or wet cutting concrete. This will depend on your job requirements and preferences. Dry cutting eliminates the need for wet pulp and saws with water pipes and tanks, while wet diamond grinding wheels reduce dust. Dry diamond grinding wheels and compatible saws may be the only option when working indoors where the interior must be kept dry.