Lapping is the lower-pressure, lower-speed, and lower-power application of the use of fixed abrasives. This article begins with a discussion on the process capabilities of lapping and reviews the selection of abrasive and vehicle for lapping. It describes the methods of lapping outer cylindrical surfaces, namely, ring lapping, machine lapping between plates, centerless roll lapping with loose abrasives, and centerless lapping with bonded abrasives. In addition, the article discusses the methods employed for lapping of outer surfaces of piston rings, crankshafts, inner cylindrical surfaces, flat surfaces, end surfaces, spherical surfaces, balls, spring like parts, and gears. It also reviews the problems in flat and end lapping. The article concludes information on the use of lapping in accelerated wearing-in process for matching and aligning components of bearing assemblies.

Ceramics usually require some form of machining prior to use to meet dimensional and surface quality standards. This article focuses on abrasive machining, particularly grinding, and addresses common methods and critical process factors. It covers cylindrical, centerless, and disk grinding and provides information on tooling, wheel selection, work material, and operational factors. It also discusses precision slicing and slotting, lapping, honing, and polishing as well as abrasive waterjet, electrical discharge, laser, and ultrasonic machining.

Thermal phenomena play a key role in the mechanics of surface finishing processes. This article provides information on the analysis and measurement of temperatures and associated thermal damage generated by finishing processes that are essential to the production of engineered components with controlled surface properties. Emphasis is placed on kinematically simple configurations of finishing processes, such as surface grinding, flat surface polishing, and lapping.

Abrasive finishing is a method where a large number of multipoint or random cutting edges are coupled with abrasive grains as a bond or matrix material for effective removal of material at smaller chip sizes. This article provides a broad overview of the various categories of abrasive products and materials, abrasive finishing processes, and the mechanisms of delivering the abrasives to the grinding or machining zone. Abrasive finishing processes, such as grinding, honing, superfinishing, microgrinding, polishing, buffing, and lapping, are discussed. The article presents a brief discussion on abrasive jet machining and ultrasonic machining. It concludes with a discussion on the four categories of factors that affect the abrasive finishing or machining: machine tool, work material, wheel selection, and operational.

This article describes the process applications, advantages, and limitations of resistance seam welding. The fundamentals of lap seam welding are also reviewed. The article details the types of seam welds, namely, lap seam welds and mash seam welds, and the processing equipment used for lap seam welding. The primary factors used to determine the selection of electrodes, including alloy type and wheel configuration, are reviewed. The article also describes weld quality and process control procedures.

Finishing refers to a wide variety of processes that generally involve material removal in one form or another to generate surfaces with specific geometries, tolerances, and functional or decorative characteristics. This article discusses four major finishing methods, namely, abrasive machining, electropolishing, mass finishing, and shot peening. In each case, it describes subtypes, process variations, and the associated equipment.

Resistance seam welding (RSEW) is a process in which the heat generated by resistance to the flow of electric current in the work metal is combined with pressure to produce a welded seam. This article discusses the various classes of the RSEW process, namely roll spot welding, reinforced roll spot welding, and leak-tight seam welding. It provides information on the applications of lap seam weld, mash seam weld, and butt seam weld. The article reviews the advantages and limitations of seam welding compared to resistance spot welding, projection welding, and laser welding. It describes the four basic types of resistance seam weld machines: circular, longitudinal, universal, and portable. The article concludes with a discussion on weld quality and process control for seam welding.

A key differentiator between friction stir welding (FSW) and other friction welding processes is the presence of a nonconsumable tool in FSW, often referred to as a pin tool to differentiate it from other tooling associated with the process. This article discusses materials for friction stir welding (FSW) pin tools, various tool geometries that have been used, designs for specific applications, predicting and measuring tool performance, and other considerations in FSW pin tool design. The tool materials include tool steels, superalloys, refractory metals, carbides and ceramics, and superabrasives.

This article illustrates how objective experiments and comparisons can be used to develop surface preparation procedures for metallographic examination of structural features of metals. These procedures are classified as machining, grinding and abrasion, or polishing. The article describes the abrasion artifacts in austenitic steels, zinc, ferritic steels, and pearlitic steels, and other effects of abrasion damages, including flatness of abraded surfaces and embedding of abrasive. Different polishing damages, such as degradation of etching contrast and scratch traces, are reviewed. The article explains the final-polishing processes such as skid polishing, vibratory polishing methods, etch-attack and electromechanical polishing, and polishing with special abrasives. An overview of special polishing techniques for unusual materials such as very hard and very soft materials is provided. The article concludes with a discussion on semiautomatic preparation procedures, providing information on procedures based on the use of diamond abrasives charged in a carrier paste and in a suspension.

This article presents general design principles for different types of surface-finishing processes, such as cleaning, organic coatings, and inorganic coatings applied by a variety of techniques. It discusses the factors that influence the selection of surface-finishing processes. These include fabrication processes, size, weight, functional requirements, and design features. The article discusses the design as an integral part of manufacturing. It contains tables that summarize the design limitations for selected surface-preparation, organic finishing, and inorganic finishing processes.