Review of Gear Finishing Processes

Abstract

Gear is an essential mechanical component whose annual consumption is more than 10 billion. It is used in various automobile, avionics, marine, naval, construction, biomedical and agricultural appliances, machine tools, and in all those applications where the power and/or motion to be transmitted between the two shafts. Type and characteristics of the finishing process significantly affects surface quality, microgeometry, surface integrity, and fatigue behavior of the gears which in turn determine their operating performance, transmission, noise and wear characteristics, and service life. Selection of proper finishing and properties enhancing process for gears greatly helps in optimizing these aspects and helps in optimizing load carrying capacity of the gears. This chapter describes working principle, types, cutting tools used, applications, advantages, and limitations of the most commonly used conventional and some unconventional or advanced finishing processes for different types of gears. The conventional gear finishing processes described are grinding, lapping, honing, shaving, burnishing while advanced gear finishing process include abrasive flow machining (AFM). It concludes with a comparative evaluation of these gear finishing processes which would be very helpful to a user in selecting an appropriate gear finishing process for a particular application. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.