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The surface of a honed workpiece. Honing is an abrasive machining process that produces a precision surface on a metal workpiece by scrubbing an abrasive stone against it along a controlled path. Honing is primarily used to improve the geometric form of a surface, but may also improve the surface texture. Typical applications are the finishing of cylinders for internal combustion engines, air bearing spindles and gears. Types of hone are many and various but all consist of one or more abrasive stones that are held under pressure against the surface they are working on. In everyday use, a honing steel is used to hone knives, especially kitchen knives, and is a fine process, there contrasted with more abrasive sharpening. Other similar processes are lapping and superfinishing.
Contents
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1 Honing stones 2 Process mechanics 3 Honing configurations 4 Economics 5 Performance advantages of honed surfaces 6 Cross-hatch finish 7 Plateau finish 8 See also
9 Notes
Honing tools Honing uses a special tool, called a honing stone or a hone, to achieve a precision surface. The hone is a composed of abrasive grains that are bound together with an adhesive. Generally, honing grains are irregularly shaped and about 10 to 50 micrometers in diameter (300 to 1,500 mesh grit). Smaller grain sizes produce a smoother surface on the workpiece. A honing stone is similar to a grinding wheel in many ways, but honing stones are usually more friable so that they conform to the shape of the workpiece as they wear in. To counteract their friability, honing stones may be treated with wax or sulfur to improve life; wax is usually preferred for environmental reasons.[1] Any abrasive material may be used to create a honing stone, but the most commonly used are corundum, silicon carbide, cubic boron nitride, or diamond. The choice of abrasive material is usually driven by the characteristics of the workpiece material. In most cases, corundum or silicon carbide are acceptable, but extremely hard workpiece materials must be honed using superabrasives.[1] The hone is usually turned in the bore while being moved in and out. Special cutting fluids are used to give a smooth cutting action and to remove the material that has been abraded. Machines
can be portable, simple manual machines, or fully automatic with gauging depending on the application. Modern advances in abrasives have made it possible to remove much larger amount of material than was previously possible. This has displaced grinding in many applications where "through machining" is possible. External hones perform the same function on shafts.
High-precision workpieces are usually ground and then honed. Grinding determines the size, and honing improves the shape. The difference between honing and grinding is not always distinct. Some grinders have complex movements and are self-truing, and some honing machines are equipped with in-process gaging for size control. Many through-feed grinding operations rely on the same averaging effect as honing.
Track/Raceway honing Spherical honing OD through-feed honing (taper and straight) Flat honing Bore honing
[edit] Economics
Since honing is a high precision process, it is also relatively expensive. Therefore it is only used in components that demand the highest level of precision. It is typically the last manufacturing operation before the part is shipped to a customer. The dimensional size of the object is established by preceding operations, the last of which is usually grinding. Then the part is honed to improve a form characteristic such as roundness, flatness, cylindricity, or sphericity.[3]
A "cross-hatch" pattern is used to retain oil or grease to ensure proper lubrication and ring seal of pistons in cylinders. A smooth glazed cylinder wall can cause piston ring and cylinder scuffing. The "cross-hatch" pattern is used on brake rotors, and flywheels.