Improving functional performance characteristics of spur gears through flank modifications by non-contact advanced finishing process

Abstract

This paper describes reduction in noise, vibrations, total and tooth-to-tooth, and longwave transmission errors, total and tooth-to-tooth composite errors, and radial runout of spur gears by imparting them flank modifications and their combinations by a non-contact advanced finishing process referred to as pulsed electrolytic dissolution. Eight spur gears were modified using innovatively developed 5 cathode gears and apparatus by imparting them 5 flank modifications (i.e. tip relief, root relief, end relief, profile crowning, lead crowning) individually and their 4 selected combinations. Vibrations at all rotational speeds and noise at 900 and 1200 rpm are reduced for all modified spur gears at all the values of applied loads. End relieved spur gear showed maximum reductions in noise and vibrations by 5 dBA and 3.77 m/s2 respectively for 1200 rpm speed. Reduction amount in noise and vibrations of modified gears increase with rotary speed. Lead crowned gear showed maximum reductions of 146 µm in total transmission error, 109 µm in total composite error, and 102 µm in radial runout. End relieved gear showed maximum reductions of 37 µm in tooth-to-tooth and 139 µm longwave transmission errors. Tip relieved, and tip and root relieved gear showed maximum reduction of 121 µm in tooth-to-tooth composite error. This work proves that the developed non-contact process can very effectively impart different flank modifications individually and their combinations to spur gears without any twist error. Lead crowning, end relieving, tip relieving, and tip and root relieving are main flank modifications that significantly improve functional performance characteristics of spur gears. It will result in their enhanced operating performance and service life, which will help their manufacturers and end-users. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature.