Saint-gobain/norton Industrial Ceramics Corporation

Louis Kimball Bigelow

A wire is used to cut or slice diamond by passing the wire rapidly and under light load over and into the diamond surface along a line to be cut. In one form of the invention, the wire comprises a metal that dissolves diamond, such as iron or nickel and the wire and/or diamond is preferably heated to approach the metal-carbon eutectic temperature and create sensible reaction rates of the carbon on the wire surface. In another form of the invention, the moving wire carries a molten oxidant to enhance the cutting rate. The molten oxidant may be, for example, sodium nitrate, which oxidizes carbon.

Growing community of inventors

Boylston, MA, United States of America

Louis Kimball Bigelow