Machining of Natural Stone Materials

Stone-dressing continues to expand steadily, in nearly all of those countries having an abundant supply of suitable raw material, due to the increasing demand for stone products. Because competition from emerging stone-processing countries has been putting traditional stone-supplying countries under economic pressure, various attempts are being made to improve the financial viability of stone processing operations and thereby maintain natural stone's position as a cost-effective building material. Numerous papers related to the machining of natural stone have been published in diverse journals and conference proceedings, but an overall treatment of the subject for the general reader is difficult to find. The purpose of this book is to provide an opportunity for academic researchers and industrial experts to summarize the achievements made, and to predict new trends for this area. This book presents state-of-the-art information concerning research, developments and applications in the field of the machining of natural stone materials. The contents are in the form of 44 invited and selected contributions from China, Germany, Poland, Spain, Turkey, UK and USA. It is divided into: tooling technology; machining process; unique techniques; and other aspects. The topics covered include diamond-impregnated circular sawing, turning, frame sawing, wire sawing, drilling, polishing, laser machining and treatment, water-jet machining, measurement and surface quality assessment, coolants, manufacture of diamond tools, modification of diamond grits, the mechanics and mechanisms of machining processes, novel designs for machine tools and novel machining techniques. It should therefore be of interest to all production and research engineers, research students and academics working in this area.