Experimental investigations on surface finish and microgeometry of helical gear in pulsed-electrochemical honing process

Abstract

Gear is one of the most vital mechanical elements for transmission of power and motion. It has been considered as one of the highest consumable mechanical parts. Surface attributes of the gears are most important elements to describe its operating performance, service life, and accuracy. Present work highlights the development of pulsed-electrochemical honing process to enhance the performance of gears by refining the variables of surface roughness, microgeometry, and material removal rate of 20MnCr5 alloy steel helical gears. Freshly designed sandwich type cathode gear has been developed which served as a tool in pulsed-electrochemical honing process. Investigations have been done on studying the effects and identifying the optimum values of four most important variables of pulsed-electrochemical honing process, namely applied voltage (V), pulse-on time (T on ), pulse-off time (T off ), and finishing time (t) on synchronized enhancement in surface finish and microgeometry. Results of the investigations reveal that T on as 6 ms, T off as 3 ms, t as 8 min, and V as 16 V yielded the best results for surface finish and microgeometry together. © IMechE 2019.