Cut-off Wheels

• Superior surface quality

• Faster results

• Cost-efficiency
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Cut-off wheels specially developed for

materialographic specimen preparation

The first step in the

materialographic process
The first step in a process sets the pace
and determines the quality of the finished
result. In the materialographic process,
the first step is most often sectioning.
The purpose sectioning is to section a
representative, yet manageable sample
from a large or irregular piece of a given
material or to obtain sections at specific
angles, e.g. cross-sections. Sectioning
makes high demands on a number of fac-
tors: Speed, planeness, amount of thermal
damage and degree of deformation.

About abrasive wet cutting

The most commonly used method to
section a material is abrasive wet cutting.
The cut-off wheels consist of two main
components: abrasives and bonding mate-
rial. During sectioning, the cut-off wheel is
flushed with a cooling liquid to avoid thermal
damage and to remove debris, providing
the highest possible material removal.

A complete product range

Struers cut-off wheels have been specially
developed for materialographic specimen
preparation: they produce specimens that
are in perfect condition for the next
preparation step. Our large range of
different wheels assures that all materials
can be cut without structural changes due
to overheating or deformation, and guar-
antees maximum life time of the wheels.

The wheels are designed for Struers

machines, taking into consideration the
most recent developments in wet cutting
techniques. Various abrasives are used for
sectioning of different materials. However,
Al2O3 or SiC in a resin bond is used for
sectioning most metals.

The selection of bond hardness must be

based on an evaluation of the hardness
of the material. Soft materials should be

INTELLIGENT
sectioned with cut-off wheels having a
hard bond as the grains retain their abra-
sive ability for a long time. Harder metals

CUT-OFF WHEELS
require a softer resin bond, which gives a
fast replacement of abrasive grains.
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an important step towards faster,

more reliable preparation results.
In addition, with the 3D design the prob-
lem that debris builds up during cutting is
For the sectioning of materials with hard- completely eliminated. The cutting table
ness above HV 700, diamond or CBN (cu- and the entire cutting chamber stay clean
bic boron nitride) are used as the abrasive. as the small particles easily are washed
Because of the high cost of these away. Cleaning of the equipment is far
abrasives only the outer rim of the wheel is easier, and the risk of overflowing because
covered with abrasive particles in a resin of a blocked outlet is greatly reduced.
or a metal bond. Metal bonded wheels are
used for sectioning of brittle materials, Premium cut-off wheels for
such as ceramics or minerals, while bake- increased yield or speed
lite bonded wheels are used for more duc-
The Struers Premium cut-off wheels were
tile materials, such as sintered carbides
developed for high-volume serial section- With the 3D surface all the water sprayed into the
or composites containing predominantly
ing, typically in the automotive industry. channels between the hexagons is transported into the
hard phases. cut, thus cooling the workpiece much more efficiently.
A unique combination of hard abrasives,
thinness and a spiral-shaped surface pat-
Intelligent cut-off wheels
tern has resulted in excellent abrasive
All Struers abrasive bakelite wheels have properties. This results in more sections
built-in compensation to wear. per wheel or a higher turnaround time.
bles. Choosing the correct wheel for an
As a conventional cut-off wheel with Cost efficiency application will produce a surface which
uniform abrasive density wears, the
Selecting the right cut-off wheel is not just requires less subsequent preparation
sectioning performance changes from the
a matter of preparation quality, it is also steps. Thus producing specimens in a
outside to the inside. The number of grains
the best way to save time and consuma- shorter time and at a lower cost per sample.
is reduced, the load of each grain
increases and the wheel appears to get
softer and softer. The drawback is higher
wear and a less controllable cut.
The abrasive density on a Struers wheel
Struers range of cut-off wheels are under constant
varies across the wheel radius – with in- improvement and gives you:
creasing density towards the center of the
wheel. This means that the sectioning • Specimens that are in perfect condition for the next preparation step
performance remains constant even as the with no thermal damage
wheel wears to a smaller diameter (see
illustration on page 5). That is converted
• A complete product programme covering all materials and materialo-
into less wear and better control of the
section. graphic applications

3D cut-off wheels* for increased • High quality wheels with built-in compensation to wear. The result is
performance controlled cutting and uniform results
Struers was the first to offer cut-off wheels
with a hexagonal surface pattern. The cut- • 3D wheels offering less heat damage due to more efficient cooling.
off wheels are designed so that each side In addition the 3D surface means improved handling of cut-off debris
has a 3 dimensional hexagonal surface and easier cleaning of the equipment
pattern, also called the 3D surface.

With the 3D cut-off wheels cooling of the

• Specimens in a shorter time and at a lower cost per sample
workpiece is much more efficient. As the
aim in materialography is to obtain the • Premium wheels with ultra-hard, self-sharpening grains and spiral-
true, undisturbed structure, less heat shaped, thin wheels. The unique properties enable an increasing
damage due to more efficient cooling is number of sections or sectioning speed

*United States Design Patent granted, patent no. US D560,991 S

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HV
2000
How to select the correct

More ductile materials

More brittle materials

Mounted materials, predominately resin

cut-off wheel:
Struers offers a wide variety of wheels, 1400
which means that you can select the
hardness that optimally balances durability
with finish. 1000

If the hardness of the material is known,

use the table at the top of the page. In the
700
table at the bottom, you will then find the
cut-off wheel codes for the specific cut-off
machines. If the hardness of the material
is not known, find a suitable cut-off wheel 500

according to material group in the table

below.
350
1. Go upwards on the y-axis of the overview
to the right until you find the hardness value
of your material. 250

2. Move to the right, until you cross the ma-

terial group that fits your application. If you 180
only have one material to cut, find the wheel
where your material’s hardness is placed as
close to the middle of the interval as possi- 120
ble. For two or more materials, see if you
can find a wheel that covers the whole hard-
ness range. For workpieces with smaller or Abrasive Bond
80
larger diameters, it may improve the result SiC Bakelite
Al2O3 Bakelite
to choose a material group one step to the
CBN Bakelite
left, respectively to the right of the initial Diamond Bakelite
selection. 50
Diamond Metal
Diamond Metal
electro-
3. Find the number (I-XI) of the material plated
group, and see the table below for the code 30
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI
of the correct wheel for your cut-off machine.
Application

resins, mounted
hard ceramics
Medium hard

Minerals and
Medium soft

Hard ferrous
Non-ferrous

Plastics and
Soft ferrous
Very ductile
soft metals

metals (Ti)

Extremely
Very hard

materials
carbides,

ceramics
Sintered
ferrous
ferrous

ferrous

ferrous
metals
metals

metals

metals

metals

metals
hard

Cut-off machine Std. wheel size* (mm)

Magnutom-500/-5000 508 x 3.5 x 32 10S51 30A51 40A51
60A51 50A51 B0C50 B0D5117 M0D5116 E0D363
42A5110
62A5110 52A5110
Exotom-100/-150 432 x 3.0 x 32 10S43 20S43 30A43 40A43
60A43 50A43 B0C411 B0D352 M0D352 E0D363
Magnutom-400 /-500/-5000 42A4310
62A4310 52A4310
66A4312 58A4318
68A4318
Axitom-5/400 400 x 3.0 x 32 10S35 20S35 X20A400C X30A400C X40A400C X50A400C X60A400C B0C411 B0D352 M0D352 E0D363
X58A400C X68A400C
Axitom-5 350 x 2.5 x 32 10S35 20S35 20A35 20A35 30A35 40A35 50A35 B0C35 6
B0D35 2
M0D35 2
E0D363
56A3512 B7D352/15
58A3518
Labotom-15/-20 10S35 20S35 49A3519 49A3519 49A3519 60A35 60A35 B0C356 B0D352 M0D352 E0D363
30A35 40A35 50A35 66A35 12
66A3512 B7D352/15
56A3512
Exotom/Unitom-2/-5/-50 10S35 30S35 20A35 30A35 40A35 50A35 60A35 B0C356 B0D352 M0D352 E0D363
56A3512 66A3512 B7D352/15
58A3518 68A4318
Unitom/Discotom-50/-60/-65/-100 300 x 2.0 x 32 10S30 20S30 30A30 40A30 50A30 60A30 B0C314 B0D314 M0D315 E0D305
66A3012
Discotom-5/-6/-10/Labotom-3/-5 250 x 1.5 x 32 10S25 20S25 20A25 30A25 40A25 54A25 60A25 B0C257 B0D258 M0D258 E0D25
33A259 46A2512 50A2511 66A2512
56A2512
Discotom/Labotom 235 x 1.5 x 22 10S24 20S24 30A24 40A24 50A24 60A24
Discoplan-TS 200 x 1.0 x 22 B4D20 M4D20
1) 406 x 1.8 x 32 2) 350 x 1.5 x 32 3) 356 x 1.5 x 32 4) 305 x 1.8 x 32 5) 305 x 1.5 x 32 6) 350 x 1.8 x 32 7) Width = 1.3 8) Width = 1.1 9) Width = 0.8 10) Fibreglass reinforced
11) For hard and ductile materials, Ni-base alloys 12) 3D cut-off wheels 13) Width = 0.6 14) Width = 0.4 15) For sintered carbides in steel 16) Width = 2.4 17) Width = 3.2 18) Premium Cut-off wheels 19) Fiber reinforced
Precision cut-off machine Std. wheel size* (mm)
Secotom-1/-10/-15/-50/-6/-20/-60** 200 x 0.8 x 22 10S20 10S20 30A20 30A20 50A20 50A20 50A20 B0C20 B0D20 M0D2013 E1D20
M1D2013
Accutom-10/-100/-5/-50 150 x 0.5 x 12.7 10S15 10S15 40A15 40A15 50A15 50A15 50A15 B0C15 B0D15 M0D15 E0D15
30A15 30A15 M1D15
Accutom-2 125 x 0.5 x 12.7 30A13 30A13 30A13 30A13 50A13 50A13 50A13 B0C13 B0D1313 M0D1314 M1D1314
M1D1314
Minitom 125 x 0.5 x 12.7 M1D13 14
M1D13 14
B0C13 13
B0C13 13
B0C13 13
B0C13 13
B0C13 13
B0C13 13
B0D13 13
M0D1314 M1D1314
M1D1314
Wheels with special sizes 100 x 0.3 x 12.7 These wheels can be used on both Accutom-2/-5/-10/-50/-100 and Secotom-10/-15/-50/ -6/-20/-60 for cutting M0D10 M1D10
of small M1D10
75 x 0.15 x 12.7 specimens where high precision or minimum material loss is required. M0D08 M1D08
M1D08

*) Diameter x Width x Bore in mm, **) On Secotom-1 only use M0D20 + B0D20 + M1D20
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Constant improvement
Struers cut-off wheels offer the widest
variety of abrasive types and bond proper-
ties, allowing you to find the optimal wheel
for all materials and materialographic ap-
plications.
1 2 3

At Struers, we are constantly striving to

develop new improved and environmen-
1 2 3
tally friendly consumables. To you this
means superior preparation quality, faster
Low High Low results and better cost-efficiency. Make
your lab more efficient, more productive
and successful with performance products
Grain Intelligent cut-off wheels are from Struers.
Density manufactured with a lower density
of abrasives at the periphery and a
higher density towards the centre

The Struers cut-off wheels are boxed with cardboard

flanges and detailled instructions

Struers' products are subject to constant product development.

Therefore, we reserve the right to introduce changes in our products without notice

4
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Ensuring certainty

Materialographic preparation and testing demands

consistent, reproducible results. These come not only
from your laboratory process, operators and equipment,
but from your supply chain and your partner. As a Struers
customer you benefit from high quality design and
engineering of equipment and consumables, but just as
much from our unique knowledge base, robust global
supply chain, and expert service and applications support
– where and when you need it. We call all this ensuring
certainty

Struers remains dedicated to making the world a better

place through the pursuit of deep scientific insights
and ground-breaking technology. Today, we’re your
trusted partner in a fast-changing world, sharing our
expertise and practical experience on a global scale.
This gives you innovative solutions that help you face the
future with confidence. We continue to lead the way in
materialographic products and services, and to shape
future developments towards a better society.

www.struers.com