720151Brazed Diamond Band Saw Development (Revised)ClosedGRD Development of PrototypeInnovate UKC4 Carbides currently manufactures and sells three product ranges: synthetic diamond-coated & tungsten carbide-coated power drill accessories and tungsten carbide saw blades. These are sold to some of the world’s leading brands including Bosch, Black and Decker, AEG and Hitachi. We have developed a novel method for diamond coating. This project aims to combine our diamond-coating process, the continuous strip line process and a patented reduced kerf design to develop a range of diamond band-saw blades. There are technical challenges involved in making the blades because the diamonds must be bonded to the steel in a way that maximises the cutting and abrasion performance whilst retaining (or even improving) the flexibility and fatigue resistance of the backing material. Normally, diamond grit is either sintered (embedded in a powder and heated) or electroplated onto the substrate. The C4 process involves coating the diamond grit with a special ceramic layer, and then brazing the coated diamonds onto the substrate without using a vacuum. The ceramic layer is capable of forming a bond with the metal carrier during the brazing process. This innovation has led to performance improvements and lower costs and the C4 diamond-coated product range has generated significant new sales, principally in rigid hole saw blades and drills. The band saw blades will be optimised for particular applications and tested with potential customers. We will address two distinct market segments, each of which has particular technical requirements. A proof of market study has previously identified that the cutting of graphite is the largest and most technically achievable application. Of the other potential applications we currently target the silicon wafer slicing market that we believe has high value and massive growth potential driven by demand from manufacturers of semiconductors and photovoltaic panels.