Evaluation of the performance of diamond wire cutters by means of experimental analyzes in marble quarries

Thanks to the evolution of cutting technologies, the extraction activity of the Carrara marble has undergone a considerable increase: over 20% of the material historically excavated has been exploited in the last 15 years; annual production is around 1,400,000 t, and represents the most important Italian activity in the dimension stones sector; the density of quarries in the Apuan area is 0.33/km2 (7 quarries/km2 for the municipality of Carrara only) compared to the national average, which is 0.02/km2 (Coli M. et al., 2002). These results were achieved thanks to the high performance of the diamond wire cutters, which made it possible to adapt the cuts to the morphological conditions of the quarries and to guarantee high productivity.