In modern automotive vehicles, gear noise becomes more and more of an issue. The main reason is the reduced masking noise of the engine, which vanishes completely in the case of an electric driveline. Improved gear quality unfortunately does not correlate with a better noise performance in any case. High gear quality makes sure that the gear flanks are inside tight tolerances and that all teeth are nearly identical. Even if the running behavior of such gear sets shows a very low sound pressure level, the noise perception for human ears may be annoying.

Within the last decade, hard finishing technologies become highly relevant. Increasing the power density of a gearbox requires precisely machined gears without heat distortions. Especially in noise-sensitive applications, both honing and grinding are often applied.