Idling noise from circular saws made of metals with different damping capacities

Circular saw construction using materials with high internal damping has been found to be an effective way to suppress whistling noise during saw idling. A high-damping alloy called Silentalloy (12Cr-3Al-Fe) was previously shown to be an effective material for this purpose. Tests with Silentalloy suggested that a logarithmic decrement of at least 0.07 is needed. Silentalloy does have some disadvantages, such as modest strength, difficult heat treatability, and special order status. The purpose of these experiments was to confirm the general applicability of the minimum effective logarithmic decrement of 0.07 and to find more practical metals for saw-blade construction. Three commercially available metals of different damping capacity were selected. The idling noises of saws made of these metals were compared with those of saws made of typical saw steel and Silentalloy. The minimum logarithmic decrement for whistling-noise suppression was found to be approximately 0.01. On a logarithmic scale, this value is similar to the 0.07 value previously found for a Silentalloy saw. A ferromagnetic steel (20Cr-3A1-Fe) was found to be a useful alternative to Silentalloy from the viewpoint of strength, but the cost of this steel makes it unsuitable for mass production. The success in identifying an effective alternative material to Silentalloy provides encouragement for the identification of other high-damping alloys among the 13Cr-Fe to 18Cr-Fe series without the cost disadvantage of ferromagnetic steel.