Abstract
When invented approximately thirty years ago, gear honing was (only) a surface polishing process with small materials removal rate. Up until a few years ago, the industry thought that even the large gears (diameter up to 280 mm), crank shafts, gears with collision contours necessitating the use of small cross axis angles were not honable in terms of an insufficient material removal process. Innovations in the tools and technology and ultimately in the areas of machines and controls have enabled us to turn gear honing into an economic hard-fine finishing process that fulfils the contemporary increased gear quality requirements. The special surface generated by gear honing, in combination with induced compressed residual stress, have had a positive effect on durability and noise emission of the gears. The latest development prove that there is lots of room for improvements in the relatively young gear honing process, but nevertheless, gear honing has been established in the gear industry.
