Process variability in honing of cylinder liner with vitrified bonded diamond tools

With the increasing use of ultra-hard abrasives and the introduction of more powerful and rigid machines, honing process is spreading its performances. In industrial honing of cylinder liners for internal combustion engines, the degree of penetration that Metallic Bonded Diamond (MBD) abrasive stones have experienced compared to conventional Vitrified Bonded Silicon Carbide (VBSC) tools is obvious. The long tool life of metal bonded diamond sticks is however balanced by its main role in producing torn and folded metal without cutting-effect finish. To simultaneously reduce folding and remove the stock with improved stone life, an experimental investigation is reported on the process variability in finish honing behavior due to stone inconsistency and nature of its properties. We consider the achievable performances by finish honing of cast iron liners with a new abrasive stone. This superabrasive consists of micro-sized diamond abrasives which are bonded with vitrified bond (VBD). By selection of finer grit abrasive while honing with VBD tool, conditions could be created that gave a cutting-effect finish to the diamond honing and minimized the folding over.