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Our Passion - Your Quality

Benefit with our premium saw wire:

  • voestalpine´s own primary material basis, guaranteeing ultra-pure steels and perfect processes as well as meeting the highest requirements
  • Technological properties that are consistent and uniform
  • Diameter range from 0,04 mm – 0,35 mm available with straight and structured design
  • Structured wire individually designed on customer parameters
  • Strength up to 5.100 MPa
  • Surfaces with an even layer thickness and top cleanliness in brass, zinc and copper as well as bare 
  • Shortest production and development times thanks to advanced R&D facilities and the use of digital development tools for end products that are customized to meet the highest customer requirements

Saw Wire for Special Applications

Specialised setup in application consulting area:

  • Product properties
  • Further developments
  • Total cost of ownership

Contact us for further information! 

Wafering Process

Photovoltaic (PV) energy uses the solar energy to create electricity. The PV modules – this is a series of connected PV cells – converts the solar energy into electric current.

 

PV modules consist of many so-called wafers, which are thin slices (~0,15 mm thickness) of various semiconductor materials with an extremely flat surface. The most common material used for wafers today is silicon.

Silicon wafers are an essential basis for the world’s electronics industry. Silicon is the second most common element in the earth’s crust; however, it is only present in the form of oxides. To produce crystalline silicon, the oxides have to be heated up to high temperatures and reduced with carbon-based materials.

  • The wafering process (Figure 2) starts with the growing or casting of solid ingots made of single-crystal or multi-crystalline silicon.

    • Multi-crystalline silicon ingots are made by melting a load of silicon chunks within a furnace followed by a slow cool down.
      • Mono-crystalline ingots are grown by using the Czochralsky process: silicon chunks are put in a circular crucible and molten and additionally, a small crystal seed is entered into the molten pool of silicon, see Figure 3.
      • The ingots then are cut into squared blocks, either with a band saw, or with a kind of wire saw machine.
    • The silicon blocks then are further sliced into thin wafers by using Multi-Wire Saw technology (MWS).
      • Here, the saw wire is pulled over the wire guide rollers in such a way that a wire web is spanned. This technology is applied in diamond wire cutting (up to ≥ 40µm) and slurry cutting likewise. The cutting fluid – the so-called slurry - is applied to the wire web while the silicon block is slowly pushed through it.
      • By using this technology, it is possible to slice one silicon block into hundreds of wafers in just one process step, see Figure 4.
    • From ore to wire from one single source. Thus, maximum flexibility in all process steps.
    • Products developed on a customized basis to meet the highest requirements
    • Consistent and uniform tensile strengths
    • Worldwide operation with the necessary logistics
    • The best winding technology available, therefore high unwinding speeds
    • Environmental friendly and most advanced production facilities
    • Local sales hubs
    • Pioneering wire solutions for the energy transition

Product Portfolio

Saw Wires - Specifications

Diameter (μm) Breaking load up to (N) Appearance
40 5,5  
45 7,5  
50 9,5  
95 26 Structured
115 35 Structured
120 44  
130 50  
130 45 Structured
140 55  
145 58  
160 74  
160 64 Structured
175 82  
175 79 Structured

Surface

  • Standard surface is brass coated or bare

Quality Control

  • EN ISO 9001:2008