Wire sawing of crystal silicon is one of the most important manufacturing methods for wafer production in photovoltaic and semiconductor industry. Currently, thin wires with smaller wire core, finer abrasive and larger abrasive density are employed in industrial wire sawing to reduce the material kerf loss and increase the quality of wafer surface. This study investigates the influences of feed to wire speed to rate ratio to the cutting depth and material removal at abrasive level when using this type of wires. The model of ingot section profile has been developed allowing the numerical simulations of wire sawing process with different processing and wire parameters. Results show that the brittle cutting always takes place in the wire sawing of silicon. The volume of material removed by brittle cutting could exceed 90% at the bottom cutting zone of the wire even though the percentage of brittle cutting abrasive is less than 20%. In contrast, material removal at the side cutting zone could be pure ductile at low value of feed to wire speed ratio. The comparison of cutting depth distribution in the cutting zone shows a significantly difference in abrasive cutting behaviors. While pure ductile cutting takes place at the side, the process efficiency could be maintained by a number of brittle cutting abrasives at the bottom cutting zone. The results are suitable for determining process parameters for achieving a high material removal rate in sawing direction while keeping the damaged zone in the near-surface region of the wafers as small as possible