What Are The Main Components Of Alloy Powder For Diamond Tools
1. Basic Core Components of Mainstream Matrix
Iron (Fe):
The high-strength skeleton of the matrix, the core material of cost-effective cobalt-free formulas. High iron content greatly improves matrix wear resistance and reduces raw material costs. Sagwell KIN-12 and SFN-11 series take iron as the main component, suitable for granite wire saws and water drill bits, solving the high-cost pain point of traditional cobalt powder. Pure iron lacks toughness, so it needs to be mixed with other metals to adjust mechanical properties.
Copper (Cu):
Low-temperature liquid-phase binder. It forms liquid phase during sintering to wrap diamond particles evenly, improve powder formability, and conduct heat rapidly to avoid high-temperature graphitization of diamond under dry cutting conditions. High-iron low-copper formulas are mainstream for civil saw blades, with copper content controlled at 9%-11% to balance densification and self-sharpening performance.
Tin (Sn):
Flux and wetting modifier. It reduces alloy sintering temperature, narrows the wetting angle between diamond and metal matrix, and prevents cracking and edge chipping of tool segments after sintering. In fine-grained pre-alloy powder, tin is diffusely distributed to shorten the sintering diffusion path, and stable forming can be realized without extra elemental tin powder.
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2. Functional Reinforcement Alloy Elements
Cobalt (Co):
Classic element for high-end tools, featuring excellent wettability to diamond. It strengthens and toughens the matrix to lock abrasive grains tightly, widely used in premium granite wire saws. Due to high cost, multi-element iron-based alloys are adopted industry-wide to replace cobalt.
Nickel (Ni):
Toughness improver, infinitely miscible with iron and copper, boosting matrix bending strength and reducing brittleness of iron-based formulas for heavy-load cutting.
Tungsten (W), Molybdenum (Mo):
Interface-strengthening wear-resistant components. They form carbides on diamond surface at 750℃ sintering temperature to create metallurgical bonding layers and prevent diamond shedding, ideal for hard rock and reinforced concrete cutting.
Manganese (Mn), Phosphorus (P):
Trace activating elements that enhance sintering activity and optimize powder apparent density and fluidity, matching pressureless sintering processes.
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3. Mature Alloy Powder Formulas from Sagwell
KIN-12 Alloy Powder for Stone Cutting Blades:
Ternary Fe-Cu-Sn system, fully usable independently, perfect for corrugated saw blades and small grinding wheels;
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SFN-11 Special Alloy Powder for Wire Saws:
Hexa-element Fe-Cu-Ni-Sn-Mn-Mo composite, high hardness and sharp cutting performance for granite mine cutting;
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KIN-03 Fe-Co-Cu-Sn Pre-alloy Powder:
Balanced toughness and wear resistance for dry-cut heavy-duty saw blades and engineering drill bits.
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