The future of manufacturing companies depends largely on their ability
to adapt to swiftly changing global conditions. These are exemplified by
international com- tition, rapidly growing intercommunication and the
increased significance of en- ronmental issues [KLOC98a, ENGE02].
Precision machining with geometrically undefined cutting edges
represents a key production engineering technology with high efficiency,
security and machining quality. DIN norm 8589 subsumes within the group
"machining with geometrically - defined cutting edges" the following
material removal manufacturing processes: grinding, honing, lapping,
free abrasive grinding and abrasive blast cutting. - chining is carried
out in these production methods by means of more or less - regularly
formed grains composed of hard substances brought into contact with the
material. Of all methods understood as machining with geometrically
undefined cutting edges, only grinding, honing and lapping can, strictly
speaking, be considered p- cision machining. Free abrasive grinding and
abrasive blast cutting, also treated in this book, represent a special
group, as they generally cannot bring about geom- rical change in the
material.