ABSTRACT
Honing is an abrasive finishing process, most often used to improve the dimensional and geometrical accuracy of the functional surfaces of engineering parts, and it is characterised by (a) a large area of abrasive contact, (b) a low cutting pressure, (c) a low speed-sizing and (d) a floating part or tool. The surface finish so achievable influences functional characteristics like wear resistance, fatigue strength, corrosion resistance and power loss due to friction. Hence, modern machineries are required to be assembled with high dimensional and geometrical accuracy along with high surface finish parts. Normal machining methods like turning, milling and classical grinding cannot meet these stringent requirements mainly due to process limitations. Being an abrasive machining process, honing uses a bonded abrasive tool and is recommended to finish hard materials and hardened surfaces. Honing is applied post precision machining such as grinding to achieve the surface characteristics necessary. The surface finish achievable in honing may be in the range of 0.13-1.25 μm compared to 0.9-5 μm in grinding (Mahajan and Tajane, 2013). It is desired that the honing stone/stick, which acts as an abrasive tool, should not leave the work surface at any time during machining and the stroke length must cover the entire work length. Rotational speed, oscillation speed, length and position of stroke, honing stick pressure, etc., are several process parameters that are important and affect the honing process.
