Diamond Wire Rock Sample Cutting for Long, Small-Core Imaging
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for preparing rock samples for tomographic imaging, such as drilling and diamond disc saws, face challenges in obtaining small cylindrical samples with minimal degradation, especially for rock types with low permeability or granular materials, leading to inaccurate material property estimates due to beam hardening and limited sample size and length.
Innovation Solution
A wire cutter apparatus with a table, wire supply drum, guiding roller, and multiple translation stages allows for precise cutting of rock samples with small cross-sectional diameters and extended axial lengths, enabling the preparation of cylindrical samples with minimal shear forces and maintaining material integrity, facilitating high-resolution tomographic imaging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional drilling or diamond disc saws are used to prepare rock samples, then sample preparation can be performed, but the samples suffer from degradation, grain stripping, and fractures especially in low permeability or granular rock types
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical cutting methods (drilling, diamond disc saws) with a wire saw cutting system. The wire saw uses a flexible wire with diamond abrasives that can cut through rock samples with minimal mechanical stress, avoiding grain stripping and fractures that occur with rigid drilling or disc saw methods. This substitution of the cutting mechanism directly addresses the harmful effects on sample quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the cutting parameters by using a flexible wire geometry instead of rigid cutting tools, and by controlling the cutting speed and wire tension to minimize mechanical stress on the sample. The wire saw system allows for precise control of cutting depth and rate, enabling high-quality cuts in delicate low permeability and granular rock types without causing degradation or beam hardening artifacts.
2Manufacturing precision
If small cross-sectional diameter samples are prepared to reduce beam hardening, then tomographic image quality improves, but the axial length of the sample is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a dynamic wire saw system where the wire can be fed continuously through the sample during cutting. This allows the cutting process to adapt to varying sample depths, enabling the preparation of samples with small cross-sectional diameters (to reduce beam hardening) while simultaneously achieving extended axial lengths that would be impossible with static cutting methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The wire saw cutting approach transitions from conventional two-dimensional disc cutting to three-dimensional wire-based cutting. The flexible wire can navigate through the sample volume in multiple directions, allowing precise control over both cross-sectional dimensions (for minimizing beam hardening) and axial length (for maximizing imaged volume), effectively adding dimensional freedom to the sample preparation process.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional cutting methods are used, then sample preparation is straightforward, but the number of samples that can be measured in a reasonable time is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The wire saw system enables continuous cutting action without the need to retract or reposition heavy equipment between samples. The wire can be fed continuously through the sample, and the system can quickly transition to the next sample by simply moving the wire and adjusting the sample holder. This continuous operation dramatically increases sample throughput while maintaining ease of operation through automated control sequences.
Solution Approach 2:
The wire saw system segments the cutting process into manageable phases (wire feeding, cutting, sample ejection, next sample loading) that can be automated and repeated efficiently. Each phase is optimized for speed and precision, allowing multiple samples to be prepared in sequence without sacrificing simplicity. The modular design of the wire saw system enables rapid reconfiguration between different sample types and sizes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus enables the preparation of high-quality cylindrical rock samples with small cross-sectional diameters and long axial lengths, improving the accuracy of material property estimates by minimizing beam hardening and maintaining sample integrity, thus enhancing the efficiency of direct numerical simulation.
Implementation Method 1
a cutting wire (13) having a fixed position relative to the table (11), wherein the cutting wire is wound about the wire supply drum (12) and the guiding roller (14)
Implementation Method 2
a wire cutter apparatus... allows for precise cutting of rock samples
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A sample preparation apparatus and method of preparing a rock sample using such an apparatus, as useful in connection with the digital numerical simulation of properties of the rock. The disclosed apparatus includes a fixably mounted diamond wire cutter. Three linear translation stages are coupled to a specimen holder. One of the translation stages moves the specimen in a direction parallel to the plane of the cutting wire. The other two translation stages move the specimen in different directions from one another, and when actuated together, advance the specimen into the wire for short distances in a direction out of the plane of the cutting wire. Short piecewise linear cuts are made in the specimen, to provide a sample of the desired shape with a small cross-section.