Advanced Ceramic Slicing Technology

Fixed Abrasive Slicing Technology (FAST) Production Slicing Machine

The FAST slicing process was developed by Crystal Systems, Inc. over a 25-year period to slice hard ceramics more efficiently and was used for slicing sapphire for 15 years.  A FAST production slicer with diamond-plated blades has been designed and built to slice hard ceramic materials like sapphire at higher cutting rates with higher accuracy and increased wafers per inch.

The key to slicing hard materials with diamond on wire is to achieve high force on the diamonds to drive the sharp tips into the workpiece.  This is difficult to achieve with diamond plated on wire since wire is not rigid like a blade or disk.  However, it is possible to achieve the high force by spinning the workpiece at high RPM to create a tiny tangential contact that forces the diamond tip into the work to plow it out as the workpiece is rotated at high RPM.

Advantages of FAST slicing includes:
•    High throughput slicing three 12” lengths of 6” x 6” bars per run.
•    Low expendable cost, long diamond wire life.
•    Low kerf loss with diamond plated wire.
•    Low subsurface damage.
•    Recyclable, uncontaminated swarf in the future.
•    Future wedge shaped wire will result in lower kerf loss and more wafers per inch.