HONING OPERATIONS

HONING
*Honing is an abrasive machining process that produces a precision surface
on a metal workpiece by scrubbing an abrasives tone against I t 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.
* There are many types of hones but all consist of one or more abrasive
stones that are held under pressure against the surface they are working on.
*In terms of sharpening knives , a honing steel does not actually hone
knives, but simply realigns the metal along the edge.
*Other similar processes are lapping and superfinishing.

HONING OPERATIONS

CONTENTS
HONING STONES.
PROCESS MECHANICS.
HONING CONFIGURATIONS.
ECONOMICS.
PERFORMANCE ADVANTAGES OF HONED SURFACES.
CROSS-HATCH FINISH.
PLATEAU FINISH.

Honing stones
2

HONING OPERATIONS

Superabrasives and hone head for cylinders.

Honing tools

Honing uses a special tool, called a honing stone or a hone, to achieve a precision surface. The
hone is 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.

Process mechanics[edit]
Since honing stones look similar to grinding wheels, it is tempting to think of honing as a form of lowstock removal grinding. Instead, it is better to think of it as a self-truing grinding process.[2]

HONING OPERATIONS
In grinding, the wheel follows a simple path. For example, in plunge grinding a shaft, the wheel
moves in towards the axis of the part, grinds it, and then moves back out. Since each slice of the
wheel repeatedly contacts the same slice of the workpiece, any inaccuracies in the geometric shape
of the grinding wheel will be transferred onto the part. Therefore, the accuracy of the finished
workpiece geometry is limited to the accuracy of the truing dresser. The accuracy becomes even
worse as the grind wheel wears, so truing must occur periodically to reshape it.
The limitation on geometric accuracy is overcome in honing because the honing stone follows a
complex path. In bore honing for example, the stone moves along two paths simultaneously. The
stones are pressed radially outward to enlarge the hole while they simultaneously oscillate axially.
Due to the oscillation, each slice of the honing stones touch a large area of the workpiece.
Therefore, imperfections in the honing stone's profile cannot transfer to the bore. Instead both the
bore and the honing stones conform to the average shape of the honing stones' motion, which in the
case of bore honing is a cylinder. This averaging effect occurs in all honing processes; both the
workpiece and stones erode until they conform to the average shape of the stones' cutting surface.
Since the honing stones tend to erode towards a desired geometric shape, there is no need to true
them. As a result of the averaging effect, the accuracy of a honed component often exceeds the
accuracy of the machine tool that created it.
The path of the stone is not the only difference between grinding and honing machines, they also
differ in the stiffness of their construction. Honing machines are much more compliant than grinders.
The purpose of grinding is to achieve a tight size tolerance. To do this, the grinding wheel must be
moved to an exact position relative to the workpiece. Therefore a grinding machine must be very stiff
and its axes must move with very high precision.
A honing machine, ironically, is relatively inaccurate and compliant. Instead of relying on the
accuracy of the machine tool, it relies on the averaging effect between the stone and the workpiece.
In fact, compliance is a requirement of a honing machine that is necessary for the averaging effect to
occur. This leads to an obvious difference between the two machines: in a grinder the stone is rigidly
attached to a slide, while in honing the stone is actuated with pneumatic or hydraulic pressure.
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.

Honing configurations[edit]

A flat honing machine.

Track/Raceway honing

HONING OPERATIONS

Spherical honing

OD through-feed honing (taper and straight)

Flat honing

Bore honing

Economics[edit]
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]

Performance advantages of honed surfaces[edit]

Since honing is a relatively expensive manufacturing process, it can only be economically justified
for applications that require very good form accuracy. The improved shape after honing may result in
a quieter running or higher precision component.[3]
[4] The flexible honing tool is a relatively inexpensive honing process. This tools produces a
controlled surface condition unobtainable by any other method. It involves finish, geometry and
metallurgical structure. A high percentage plateau free of cut, torn and folded metal is produced. The
flexible hone is a resilient, flexible honing tool with a soft cutting action. The abrasive globules each
have independent suspension that assures the tool to be self-centering, self-aligning to the bore, and
self-compensating for wear.

Cross-hatch finish[edit]
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.

Plateau finish[edit]
The plateau finish is one characterised by the removal of "peaks" in the metal while leaving the cross
hatch intact for oil retention.[citation needed] The plateaued finish increases the bearing area of the finish,
and does not require the piston or ring to "break in" the cylinder walls. Plateau Honing Specification
1. Rz ....3-6 Micron; 2. Rpk....<=0.3 Micron; 3. Rk.....0.3-1.5 Micron; 4. Rvk....0.8-2.00 Micron. [citation
needed]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

Single-pass bore finishing

HONING OPERATIONS
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REFERENCES

* The page was last modified on 24 May 2015 at 20:24.

* Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
License additional terms may apply.

* King Robert C Hahn, Robert (1986). Handbook of modern

grinding technology. New York: Chapman and Hall. pp. 301336.
ISBN 0-412-01081-X.

* Swigert Jr., Arthur M. (1940). The story of superfinish. Ann

Arbor, MI: The Ann Arbor Press. pp. 575594.OCLC 568009.

* Newman Tools Flex-hone.