abrasive is a material, often a mineral, that is

used to shape or finish a workpiece through

rubbing which leads to part of the workpiece
being worn away. While finishing a material often
means polishing it to gain a smooth, reflective
surface, the process can also involve
roughening as in satin, matte or beaded finishes.
Abrasives are extremely commonplace and are
used very extensively in a wide variety of
industrial, domestic, and technological
applications. This gives rise to a large variation
in the physical and chemical composition of
abrasives as well as the shape of the abrasive.
Common uses for abrasives include grinding,
polishing, buffing, honing, cutting, drilling,sharpe
ning, lapping, and sanding
Grinding is an abrasive machining process that
uses a grinding wheel as the cutting tool.
A wide variety of machines are used for grinding:

Hand-cranked knife-sharpening stones

(grindstones)

Polishing and buffing are finishing processes

for smoothing a workpiece's surface using an
abrasive and a work wheel or a leatherstrop.
Technically polishing refers to processes that
use an abrasive that is glued to the work wheel,
while buffing uses a loose abrasive applied to
the work wheel. Polishing is a more aggressive
process while buffing is less harsh, which leads
to a smoother, brighter finish.[1]A common
misconception is that a polished surface has a
mirror bright finish, however most mirror bright
finishes are actually buffed.[2]
Polishing is often used to enhance the looks of
an item, prevent contamination of instruments,
remove oxidation, create a reflective surface, or
prevent corrosion in pipes.
[3]

Handheld power tools such as angle

grinders and die grinders

In metallography and metallurgy, polishing is

used to create a flat, defect-free surface for

examination of a metal's microstructure under a
microscope. Silicon-based polishing pads or a

Various kinds of expensive

diamond solution can be used in the polishing

industrial machine tools called grinding

process. Polishing stainless steel can also

machines

increase the sanitary benefits of stainless steel.[4]

Bench grinders often found in residential

garages and basements

The removal of oxidization (tarnish) from metal

objects is accomplished using a metal polish or
tarnish remover; this is also called polishing. To
prevent further unwanted oxidization, polished
metal surfaces may be coated with wax, oil, or

lacquer. This is of particular concern for copper

has a hardness sufficiently larger than the object

alloy products such as brass and bronze.[5]

being cut, and if it is applied with sufficient force.

Even liquids can be used to cut things when
applied with sufficient force

Honing is an abrasive machining process that

produces a precision surface on
a metal workpiece by scrubbing
an abrasive stone against it along a controlled

Different types of scissors - sewing (left), paper (middle),

path. Honing is primarily used to improve the

kitchen (right)

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

A glass cutter, showing hardened steel cutting wheel (far

left), notches for snapping, and ball (on end of handle) for
tapping

Drilling is a cutting process that uses a drill

bit to cut or enlarge a hole of circular crosssection in solid materials. The drill bit is a
rotarycutting tool, often multipoint. The bit
is pressed against the workpiece and rotated at
rates from hundreds to thousands of revolutions
per minute. This forces the cutting edge against
the workpiece, cutting off chips (swarf) from the
hole as it is drilled.

Cutting is the separation of a physical object,

into two or more portions, through the
application of an acutely directed force.
Implements commonly used for cutting are
the knife and saw, or in medicine and science
the scalpel and microtome. However, any
sufficiently sharp object is capable of cutting if it

Titanium
drilling

Sharpening is the process of creating or

refining a sharp edge of appropriate shape on a
tool or implement designed for cutting.
Sharpening is done by grinding away material
on the implement with an abrasive substance
harder than the material of the implement,
followed sometimes by processes to polish the
sharp surface to increase smoothness and to
correct small mechanical deformations without
regrinding.

Small lapping
plate made of cast iron

Lapping
machine and retention jig

A hand-held
tungsten carbide knife sharpener, with a finger guard, can be
used for sharpening plain and serrated edges on pocket
knives and multi-tools

Lapping is a machining process, in which two

surfaces are rubbed together with
an abrasive between them, by hand movement
or by way of a machine.
This can take two forms. The first type of lapping

Sandpaper or glasspaper[1] are generic names

used for a type of coated abrasive that consists
of a heavy paper with abrasive material attached
to its surface. Despite the use of the names
neither sand nor glass are now used in the
manufacture of these products as they have
been replaced by other abrasives. Sandpaper is
produced in different grit sizes and is used to
remove small amounts of material
from surfaces, either to make them smoother
(for example, in painting and wood finishing), to
remove a layer of material (such as oldpaint), or
sometimes to make the surface rougher (for
example, as a preparation for gluin

(traditionally called grinding), typically involves

rubbing a brittle material such as glass against a
surface such as iron or glass itself (also known
as the "lap" or grinding tool) with an abrasive
such as aluminum oxide, jeweller's
rouge, optician's rouge, emery, silicon
carbide, diamond, etc., in between them. This
produces microscopic conchoidal fractures as

Sheets of
sandpaper with different grits (40, 80, 150, 240, 600).

the abrasive rolls about between the two

surfaces and removes material from both.

Graphite /rfat/ is made almost entirely of

carbon atoms, and as with diamond, is
a semimetal native element mineral, and

anallotrope of carbon. Graphite is the most

stable form of carbon under standard conditions.
Therefore, it is used in thermochemistry as
the standard state for defining the heat of
formation of carbon compounds. Graphite may
be considered the highest grade of coal, just
above anthracite and alternatively called metaanthracite, although it is not normally used as
fuel because it is difficult to ignite

A semimetal is a material with a very small

overlap between the bottom of
the conduction band and the top of the valence
band. According to electronic band theory, solids
can be classified as insulators, semiconductors,
semimetals, or metals.
Carbon is capable of forming
many allotropes due to its valency. Well-known
forms of carbon include diamond and graphite.
Standard conditions for temperature and
pressure are standard sets of conditions for
experimental measurements established to
allow comparisons to be made between different
sets of data.

Graphite
specimen