Wire incrusted with abrasive grain and method for producing the same.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a metallic wire for cutting, grinding or chamfering processing of hard materials, in particular, to a metallic wire for cutting and grinding processing having abrasive grains uniformly and firmly arranged and retained in the surface layer.

In recent years, a metallic wire for cutting of hard materials such as ceramics, or semiconductor materials such as silicon and gallium arsenic, and for chamfering processing of fine through holes in workpieces has been used.

A wire with high tensile strength, a so-called saw wire is also known for these purposes. In this case, processing such as cutting or the like is carried out under the condition that free abrasive grains are existing between the wire and a material to be processed and grinding actions are performed only by frictional force, causing a problem of insufficient efficiency.

For the cutting, a so-called electro-spark machining method is known in which a high voltage is applied between the wire and a material to be cut to cut the material by discharge between the both. The method, however, has problems in that the material to be cut is limited only to electroconductive materials.

Recently, a diamond wire produced by coating the surface of a wire with a diamond powder by a plating process has been developed and an efficient processing method using the wire and utilizing the grinding force of the diamond powder on the surface of the wire has been studied. However, in this method the diamond powder is only stuck to the wire surface mainly by a Cu or Ni plating layer, so that it has weak adhesion to the surface and also a uniform arrangement and retention over the whole surface of the wire is difficult. Therefore, such a method may be improved in that the diamond powder is mixed with a usual bond metal powder such as Ni, Cu, or the like and then the mixed material is sintered and fixed to the whole surface of the wire to produce a diamond wire by applying a usual manufacturing technology for a diamond grindstone.

However, even if the above-mentioned method of sintering and fixing the diamond powder mixed with the bond metal powder to the whole surface of the wire is an improved method, it is at present not possible by any means to produce a long and thin wire by a usual sintering method.

On the other hand, double-structure wires such as wires coated with copper or aluminum are now generally used. If such an abrasive grain/steel structure wire is taken as a mere double-structure steel wire and a conventional manufacturing technology for double-structure wires is applied to produce the abrasive grain/steel structure wire, a die for wire drawing is markedly attacked and abraded by the abrasive grains, for example, in a wire drawing process, so that it is practically impossible to apply the conventional wire drawing procsing technology to the production of the above-mentioned abrasive grain/steel structure wire.

US-A-4055700 discloses a wire having a thin wire core and integral therewith, hard cutting crystals with cutting edges projecting irregularly from the wire core surface. In this document, abrasive grains are fixed on a thin wire core by vapor phase deposition.

US-A-3168399 discloses a method of producing a tube of circular cross section consisting of a sintered metal, which does not comprise any further components but metal.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a method for producing a wire incrusted with abrasive grains having a surface layer made of a more uniformly and firmly arranged effective abrasive grain powder to improve cutting and grinding processing functions.

Said object is achieved by a method according to claims 1 to 8.

The wire incrusted with abrasive grains produced according to the present invention is obtained by the following steps. First, a metallic rod made of a metallic material is inserted into the central part of a metallic pipe 1, being made from the same or a different material than the metallic rod, with a gap S formed between said rod and said metallic pipe to obtain a cylindrical metallic body A having desired dimensions, then the gap S is filled with a mixture D containing metallic powder 4 and abrasive grains 3 having a Mohs hardness of 6 or more as the main component, and then both ends of said gap S are hermetically sealed.

Subsequently, hot working such as extrusion or rolling, or a heat treatment such as annealing or patenting is applied to the above-mentioned metallic body A having its ends hermetically sealed and then the metallic body A is subjected to a cold working to produce a wire of a desired diameter. the residual metallic pipe 1 positioned at the outermost layer of the above-mentioned wire is removed by polishing, pickling, or the like and thus an abrasive grain incrusted wire having a mixed layer D' exposed on the surface of the central metallic rod 2 is obtained, the mixed layer D' having the above-mentioned abrasive grains 3 uniformly and firmly retained in the metallic layer 4' consisting of a sintered metallic powder.

It is a remarkable characteristic of the method of the invention that abrasive grains mixed with the metallic powder are not limited to a diamond powder and CBN (cubic boron nitride) powder, but ceramics, superhard alloys, glass, and the like having a Mohs hardness of 6 or more can be used as the abrasive grains. In particular, ceramics such as alumina (Aℓ₂O₃) or silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) are suitable.

The Mohs hardness is an emperical scale to determine the hardness of ores by comparison with ten kinds of ores providing standards. The standard ores in an order of the softest ore (having a scale of 1) to the hardest one (having a scale of 10) are talc, gypsum, calcite, fluorite, apatite, orthoclase, quartz, topaz, corundum, and diamond.

Abrasive grains used in the method of the invention usually have a hardness larger than that of the orthoclase standard having a hardness of 6. Abrasive grains having a hardness lower than the orthoclase standard are not appropriate in respect of the performance of the obtained wire incrusted with abrasive grains.

Further, the above-mentioned abrasive grains are usually mixed with a metallic powder and the mixture in a powdered state is filled into a gap in the above-mentioned metallic body but it is effective to granulate the above-mentioned mixture and to fill the resulting granules into the gap for the purpose of preventing the metallic powder and the abrasive grains from separation or segregation caused by a difference in gravity between both.

A pipe shaped metal B may be tightly fitted around the metallic rod 2 inserted into the central part of the metallic pipe 1 with a gap formed between the metal B and the pipe 1 or a thin metallic belt C may be wound around the above-mentioned rod to prevent that in a cold wire drawing process the above-mentioned inserted metallic rod 2 is pierced with abrasive grains and is notched in its central part.

In the above-mentioned case, for the pipe-shaped metal or for the wound thin metallic belt, not only the same metallic component as that of the metallic pipe and the metallic rod but also a metallic component different from that of the above-mentioned pipe and rod can be used.

According to the method for manufacturing the wire, it is easy to form the metallic pipe and the central metallic rod separately into an appropriate size by using components of the same or different kind that fit the use conditions for both.

As a mixture composed of a metallic powder having various components and an abrasive grain powder having a Mohs hardness of 6 or more mixed at a suitable ratio for various use conditions as a main component is filled into a gap between the metallic pipe and the metallic rod to form a metallic body and then both ends of the metallic body are hermetically sealed, it becomes possible to apply hot working and subsequent cold working to the metallic body while maintaining the mixing ratio and the homogeneity of the mixture when the mixture is prepared. Further, as the outermost layer of the above-mentioned metallic body is a metallic pipe and a wire draw-working is brought into contact with only the metallic pipe during a wire drawing process, the wire drawing die is not brought into contact with the abrasive grain powder, so that the abrasive grain powder is firmly stuck to the wire.

As the thus obtained wire of desired diameter has an outermost layer only consisting of the metallic pipe, the mixed layer containing abrasive grains is exposed on the outermost surface of the resulting wire if the metallic pipe layer is removed. Accordingly, the wire incrusted with abrasive grains can be quickly and cheaply produced. <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>Figs. 1(a) and 1(b) are a plan view and a side sectional view showing the structure of a metallic body used in the present invention, respectively;</li><li>Fig. 2 is a conceptional view showing a wire incrusted with abrasive grains produced by the method of the present invention;</li><li>Fig. 3(a) is a microphotograph (of 40 magnifications) showing one example of the surface of the wire prepared according to the present invention;</li><li>Fig. 3(b) is a microphotograph (of 40 magnifications) showing one example of the section of a wire before being polished and pickling in the course of production by the method of the present invention,</li><li>Figs. 4(a), and 4(b) are a plan view and a side sectional view showing a modified example having a pipe-shaped metal fit tightly around the metallic rod respectively; and</li><li>Figs. 5(a) and 5(b) are a plan view and a side sectional view of another modified example having a thin metallic belt wound around the metallic rod, respectively.</li></ul>

The present invention will be described in more details with respect to the preferred embodiments.

Figs. 1(a) and 1(b) are a plan view and a side sectional view, each showing the structure of a metallic body A having a metallic rod 2 inserted into the central part of a metallic pipe 1 and having a gap between the metallic pipe and the metallic rod filled with a mixture comprising a metallic powder and abrasive grains.

In Figs. 1(a) and 1(b), A shows the metallic body, 1, the outermost metallic pipe, and 2, the metallic rod in the central part of the metallic pipe. The metallic rod 2 is inserted into the central part of the metallic pipe 1 with a gap S formed in between, and a mixture of abrasive grains 3 having a Mohs hardness of 6 or more with a metallic powder 4 is filled into the gap S.

As the material of the metallic pipe 1 positioned at the periphery of the metallic body A and of the metallic rod 2 in the central part of the metallic body A, carbon steel is generally used but stainless steel, a copper alloy, or the like may also be used according to the use conditions, and the materials of the metallic pipe 1 and the metallic rod 2 may be different from each other.

The thickness of the metallic pipe 1, the diameter of the metallic rod 2, and the width of the gap between both are each appropriately determined according to the diameter or the final wire, the average grain size of abrasive grains 3 and the mixing ratio of the abrasive grains 3 to the metallic powder 4.

Further, as the abrasive grain powder 3 having a Mohs hardness of 6 or more, there are specifically, in addition to a diamond powder and a CPN powder, ceramics such as alumina (Aℓ₂O₃) and silicon nitride (Si₃N₄), hard metal powder, glass powder, and the like, and they are used in the form of a single compound or of a mixture of two or more compounds.

As the metallic powder 4 with which the abrasive grain powder 3 is mixed, Ni powder or Ni base alloy powder is generally used but, other than those, Cu powder, Cu base alloy powder, Co powder, Co base alloy powder, and the like which are bond metal powder used for manufacturing of general abrasive grain tools may be used. Both ends of gap S of the metallic body A after being filled with the mixed powder D are capped with an appropriate cover material and then welded to hermetically seal the metallic body A. Then hot working such as extrusion or rolling and then a heat treatment such as annealing or patenting is applied and subsequently, cold working is applied to the metallic body A to produce a wire having a desired diameter.

If the diffusion of the metallic powder 4 filled in the gap between the metallic pipe 1 and the central metallic rod 2 into the metallic pipe 1 or into the metallic rod 2 during the hot working is undesirable, it is possible to prevent the diffusion phenomenon by plating the inner surface of the metallic pipe 1 or the outer surface of the metallic rod 2 with copper or the like in advance to form a layer tot prevent the diffusion.

Also, as shown in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, a pipe-shaped metal B may be tightly fitted around the metallic rod 2 inserted into the central part of the metallic pipe 1 with a gap formed between the metal B and the pipe 1 or a thin metallic belt C may be wound around the rod 2. This is effective to prevent that in a cold working the above-mentioned inserted metallic rod 2 is pierced with abrasive grains and is notched in its central part.

Further, if, for example, a mixture of a diamond abrasive grain powder and Ni powder is filled into the gap, the two powders have the tendency to segregate and separate due to a difference in gravity between both because the specific density of diamond and Ni is 3.5 g/cm³ and 8.9 g/cm³, respectively. A wire produced by use of the above-mentioned mixed powder having a non-uniform composition and being segregated shows a marked difference in the density of the exposed abrasive grains at different locations on the wire surface, so that an improper product might result.

To prevent the above-mentioned defect, the mixed powder comprising diamond abrasive grains and Ni powder is granulated to prepare a powder comprising spherical granules, which is filled into the gap between the above-mentioned metallic pipe and central metallic rod.

In the process of the present invention it is excluded that the diamond abrasive grains separate or segregate from the Ni powder.

To conduct a granulation-treatment, a binder is added as an additive but if a binder such as an organic compound is used, joining between the particles of powder is sometimes hindered by the above-mentioned binder when the above-mentioned metallic body is subjected to a following treatment

Therefore, it is effective to heat the above-mentioned metallic body after the granulated powder has been filled into the gap and before the end parts of the metallic body A are hermetically sealed to decompose and evaporate the binder and prevent the above-mentioned hindrance.

After the cold working, the residual metallic pipe 1 as the outermost layer of the wire is removed by polishing, pickling or the like.

Fig. 2 shows the thus obtained wire incrusted with abrasive grains having a mixed layer D' exposed on the surface of the drawn central metallic rod 2, the mixed layer D' having the abrasive grains uniformly and firmly retained in the metallic layer 4' consisting of sintered metallic powder.

Fig. 3(a) is a micrograph showing one example of the surface metallic structure of the thus obtained wire.

Specific examples to produce a wire incrusted with abrasive grains by the method of this invention will be described in the following.

Example 1

In a metallic body A shown in Fig. 1, a JIS-SS 41 steel material was used for the peripheral metallic pipe 1 and a JIS-SK 7 steel material was used for the central metallic rod 2. The outermost diameter of the metallic body A was 70 mm, the thickness of the peripheral metallic pipe was 5 mm, and the width of the gap S was 8 mm.

As abrasive grains diamond grains were used, and fine diamond powder having an average particle size of 150 µm was mixed with a mixed powder prepared by mixing 0.5% by weight of carbon with pure nickel powder at a mixing ratio of 13% by volume of the diamond powder to prepare mixture D. After the gap in the metallic body A was filled with mixture D, both ends of the gap part were sealed hermetically.

Then, the metallic body A was heated at 1000°C for 2 hours and then extruded at an extrusion ratio of 15. Further, the heat treatment and cold working were repeated to produce a wire having a diameter of 1.0 mm. The tensile strength of the wire was 1784810 kPa (182 kg/mm²). Fig. 3(b) is a micrograph showing one example of a metallic structure in the section of the wire.

The thus obtained wire was dipped for 15 minutes into a hydrochloric acid solution having a concentration of 35% to dissolve and remove the carbon steel material (SS 41) of the metallic pipe which remained as the outermost layer of the wire and then it was neutralized with an alkali solution and washed with water.

Fig. 3(a) is a micrograph showing one example of a metallic structural state of the surface of the thus obtained wire incrusted with diamond abrasive grains. It will be seen that find diamond grains are uniformly and firmly stuck to and embedded into the periphery of the wire.

Example 2

In the metallic body A shown in Fig. 1, a JIS-SS 41 steel material and a JIS-SUS 30 stainless steel material were used for the peripheral metallic pipe 1 and the central metallic rod 2, respectively.

The outermost diameter of the metallic body A was 70 mm, the thickness of the peripheral metallic pipe was 5 mm and the width of the gap S in the metallic body A was 8 mm.

As abrasive grain CBN grains were used CBN grains having an average particle size of 150 µm were mixed with pure nickel powder in a mixing ratio of 13% by volume of CBN grains to prepare a mixture D. After the gap part of the metallic body A was filled with the mixture D, both ends of the gap part were hermetically sealed.

Then the metallic body A was heated at 1050°C for 2 hours and then extruded at an extrusion ratio of 15. Further heat treatment and cold working were repeated to produce a wire having a diameter of 1.0 mm. The tensile strength of the wire was 1824037 kPa (183 kg/mm²). The wire was dipped into a hydrochloric acid solution having a concentration of 35% to dissolve and remove the outermost carbon steel material (SS 41) of the metallic body A which remained as the outermost layer of the wire and then it was neutralized with an alkali solution and washed with water.

The thus obtained wire incrusted with abrasive grains was used for cutting and grinding processing of iron based materials and as a result, extremely good cutting and grinding processing could be performed, whereas, with the conventional diamond wires produced by a plating method, the surface diamond grains were intensely abraded owing to the action of the iron of the surface of the worked iron material and processing of the iron material with the wire was difficult.

Example 3

As the material of the metallic body A shown in Fig. 1, a JIS-SS 41 steel material and a JIS-SK 7 steel material were used for the outermost metallic pipe 1 and the central metallic rod 2, respectively.

The outermost diameter of the metallic body A was 70 mm, the thickness of the outermost metallic pipe was 7 mm, and the width of the gap S in the metallic object A was 7 mm. A diamond powder of an average particle size of 30 µm was mixed with a mixture prepared by mixing 0.5% by weight of carbon with pure nickel powder in a mixing ratio of 15% by volume of diamond powder to produce mixed powder D. After the gap S of the metallic object A was filled with the mixed powder D, both ends of the gap S were hermetically sealed.

Then the metallic object A was heated at 1050°C for 2 hours and extruded at an extrusion ratio of 15. Further, heat treatment and cold working were repeated to produce a wire having a diameter of 0.26 mm. The tensile strength of the wire was 1755390 kPa (179 kg/mm²). The wire was dipped for 5 minutes into a hydrochloric acid solution having a concentration of 35% to dissolve and remove the outermost carbon steel material (SS 41) of the metallic object A which remained is the outermost layer of the wire and then it was neutralized with an alkali solution and washed with water.

The thus obtained wire incrusted with diamond abrasive grains, as clearly shown from the results in Table 1 and Table 2 described later, had a strong adhesion of the diamond abrasive grains 3 to the surface of wire, and increased cutting speed and a markedly long life as compared with conventional diamond wires having the same diameter where diamond powder stuck to the surface by a plating method.

One example of the results of the above-mentioned comparative experiments is shown in Table 1 and Table 2. <tables id="tabl0001" num="0001"><img file="EP0243825B1_D0001.tif" /></tables><tables id="tabl0002" num="0002"><img file="EP0243825B1_D0002.tif" /></tables>

Example 4

As the material of the metallic body A shown in Fig. 1, a carbon steel pipe (JIS-STK 30) And a piano wire (JIS-SWRS 72B) were used for the peripheral metallic pipe 1 and the central metallic rod 2, respectively.

The outermost diameter of the metallic body A was 20 mm, the thickness of the metallic pipe was 2 mm and the diameter of the metallic rod was 13 mm.

As abrasive grains a fine diamond powder having an average particle size of 30 µm was used. The diamond powder was mixed with Ni powder in a mixing ratio of 15% by volume of the diamond powder to prepare a mixture and further, 0.5% by weight of camphor as a binder was added to prepare a mixed powder.

Then, the mixed powder was granulated by a wet spray method to prepare granules, which were than held in a nitrogen atmosphere at 300°C for 1 hour to sublime the camphor. Thus, a mixture D comprising the granules was produced.

After the mixture D was filled into the gap of the metallic body A, both ends of the metallic body A were hermetically sealed.

Then the metallic body A was not extruded but a heat treatment and cold working were repeated to produce a wire having a diameter of 0.26 mm. The tensile strength of the wire was 1765197 kPa (180 kg/mm²).

In the same way as in Example 3, the outermost layer 1 of the metallic body A was dissolved and removed, and then the resulting wire was neutralized with an aqueous alkali solution and washed with water.

The wire was used for cutting processing and as a result, good cutting performance comparable to that in Example 3 was obtained.

Example 5

As the material of the metallic body A shown in Fig. 4, a carbon steel material (JIS-SS-41) and a carbon steel material (JIS-SK 7) were used for the peripheral metallic pipe 1 and the central metallic rod 2, respectively.

The outermost diameter of the metallic body A was 70 mm, the thickness of the metallic pipe was 5 mm, and the width of the gap S was 6 mm.

A pure nickel tube B having an inner diameter of 48 mm and a wall thickness of 2 mm was inserted into the gap S to fit it tightly around the metallic rod 2. A diamond powder having an average particle size of 120 µm was mixed with a mixture prepared by mixing 0.5% by weight of carbon with pure nickel powder in a mixing ratio of 13% by volume of the diamond powder to prepare mixed powder D. After the gap S' between the above-mentioned Ni tube B and the metallic pipe 1 in the metallic body A was filled with the mixed powder D, both ends of the gap S in the metallic object A were hermetically sealed.

Then, the metallic body A was heated at 1050°C for 2 hours, and then extruded at an extrusion ratio of 15. Further, heat treatment and cold working were repeated to produce a wire having a diamter of 1.0 mm. The tensile strength of the wire was 1647517 kPa (168 kg/mm²).

The structure of the wire was observed on a microphotograph and as a result, it was found that the diamond particles were separated from the central metal rod by the pipe-shaped nickel metal and the central metal rod was not pierced with the diamond particles and was not notched.

Next, the wire was dipped for 15 minutes into a hydrochloric acid solution having a concentration of 35% to dissolve and remove the outermost metallic pipe of carbon steel (SS 41) of the metallic body A which remained as the outermost layer of the wire. Then, the resulting wire was neutralized with an aqueous alkali solution and washed with water.

The thus obtained wire incrusted with diamond abrasive grains was a wire of long life which had the outer peripheral part uniformly stuck with diamond particles and the inside part not pierced with diamond particles into the center part and not notched.

Example 6

As the material of metallic body A shown in Fig. 5, a carbon steel pipe (JIS-STK 30) and a piano wire (JIS-SWRS 72B) were used for the peripheral metallic pipe 1 and the central metallic rod 2, respectively.

The outermost diameter of the metallic body A was 20 mm, the thickness of the metallic pipe was 2 mm, and the diameter of the metallic rod was 12 mm.

A thin belt C of pure nickel having a thickness of 0.1 mm was wound densely around the metallic rod 2 to form a nickel belt layer of a thickness of 0.5 mm on the rod 2. After a gap S' between the nickel belt and the metallic pipe 1 was filled with a mixed powder D prepared by mixing CBN abrasive grains 3 having an average grain size of 30 µm with pure nickel metal powder in a mixing ratio of 13% by volume of CBN abrasive gains 3, both ends of the gap S ware capped and then were hermetically sealed.

Then a heat treatment comprising heating to 950°C and subsequently cooling by air and cold working were applied to the metallic body A seven times repeatedly to produce a wire of a diameter of 0.26 mm. The tensile strength of the wire was 1676937 kPa (171 kg/mm²). The wire was dipped for 5 minutes into a hydrochloric acid solution having a concentration of 35% to dissolve and remove the outermost carbon steel (STK 30) material of the metallic body A which remained as the outermost layer of the wire. Then the resulting wire was neutralized with an alkali solution and washed with water.

As clearly shown by the results in Table 3, the thus obtained wire incrusted with CBN abrasive grains was a wire of markedly long life wherein the central metallic rod was not pierced with CBN abrasive grains and was notched easily and the wire fractured easily, as compared with a wire incrusted with CNB abrasive grains of the same diameter produced by a conventional wire drawing method using none of a pipe-shaped metallic body and a thin metallic belt. <tables id="tabl0003" num="0003"><img file="EP0243825B1_D0003.tif" /></tables>

Example 7

As the material of metallic body A shown in Fig. 1, a JIS-SS 41 steel material and a JIS-SUS 304 stainless steel material were used for the peripheral metallic pipe 1 and the central metallic rod 2, respectively.

The outermost diameter of the metallic body A was 70 mm, the thickness of the peripheral metallic pipe was 5 mm, and the width of the gap S was 8 mm. After the gap S of the metallic body A was filled with a mixed powder D prepared by mixing alumina (Aℓ₂O₃) powder 3 having an average particle size of 150 µm with pure Ni powder in a mixing ratio of 13% by volume of alumina, both ends of the gap S of the metallic body A were hermetically sealed.

Then the metallic body A was heated at 1050°C for 2 hours and extruded at an extrusion ratio of 15. Further, heat treatment and cold working were repeated to produce a wire having a diameter of 1.0 mm. The tensile strength of the wire was 1794617 kPa (183 kg/mm²). The wire was dipped into a hydrochloric acid solution having a concentration of 35% to dissolve and remove the outermost carbon steel (SS 41) material of the metallic body A which remained as the outermost layer of the wire. Then the resulting wire was neutralized with an alkali solution and washed with water.

When the thus obtained wire incrusted with abrasive grains was used for cutting and grinding processing of iron-containing materials, it showed very good cutting and grinding performance, whereas a diamond powder on the surface of a diamond wire produced by conventional plating method was intensely abraded owing to the iron on the surface of the worked iron material and processing of the material with the diamond wire was difficult.

Example 8

As the material of metallic body A shown in Fig. 1, a carbon steel pipe (JIS-STK 30) and a piano wire (JIS-SWRS 72B) were used for the peripheral metallic pipe 1 and for the central metallic rod 2, respectively.

The outermost diameter of the metallic body A was 20 mm, the thickness of the metallic pipe was 2 mm, and the diameter of the metallic rod was 13 mm. After the gap S between the metallic pipe 1 and the metallic rod 2 was filled with a mixed powder D prepared by mixing silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) powder 3 as abrasive particles having an average particle size of 30 µm with copper powder in a mixing ratio of 15% by volume of silicon nitride powder, both ends of the gap S of the metallic body A were hermetically sealed.

Then a heat treatment comprising heating to 900°C and subsequently cooling in air and cold working were applied to the metallic body A seven times repeatedly to produce a wire of a diameter of 0.26 mm. The tensile strength of the wire was 1510224 kPa (154 kg/mm²). The wire was dipped for 5 minutes into a hydrochloric acid solution having a concentration of 35% to dissolve and remove the outermost carbon steel (STK 30) material of the metallic body A which remained as the outermost layer of the wire. Then the resulting wire was neutralized with an alkali solution and washed with water.

The thus obtained wire incrusted with abrasive grains was used for cutting of Si single crystals and as a result, very good cutting processing could be performed.

As described above, according to the invention, a metallic body easily formed into suitable dimensions and by suitable materials for use conditions is used, and after the gap within the metallic body is filled with a mixed powder prepared by mixing a metallic powder of desired components with abrasive grains having a Mohs hardness of 6 or more in a desired mixing ratio, both ends of the gap are welded and hermetically sealed. As the outermost part of the metallic body is only a metal of a metallic pipe, even if the conventional double structure wire producing technology is applied to the metallic body without any change, the abrasive grains do not directly attack a die for wire drawing, so that the metallic body can be easily subjected to wire drawing processing up to a desired wire diameter as in the production process for a conventional double structure steel wire.

Further, also in the final process exposing a mixed layer containing an abrasive grain powder having a Mohs hardness of 6 or more as the outermost layer of the wire, metals remaining on the surface of the wire can be easily removed by applying a usual polishing, pickling, or the like.

As a heat treatment including direct hot working and cold working is applied to the metallic body having the mixed powder hermetically filled in the gap, the above-mentioned abrasive grain powder in the mixed layer formed of sintered metallic powder in the mixed powder can be arranged and uniformly and firmly retained maintaining its mixing ratio at the time of filling unchanged. Thus, a wire incrusted with abrasive grains suitable for cutting and grinding processing can be readily produced, which has an increased cutting speed and a markedly extended wire life and has an excellent cutting or chamfering processing performance as compared with a conventional diamond wire having a diamond powder only stuck to its surface by a plating method.

Further, the wire produced by the method of the present invention also has a large retaining power for abrasive grains when the wire is bended as compared with a wire produced by a plating method.

As the wire incrusted with abrasive grains produced by the method of the invention has abrasive grains firmly embedded into the surface of wire, it is most suitable for cutting a brittle material or a material hard to be applied by a cutting method using a liquid such as water or an oil.