Carburized gears have higher strengths and longer lives compared with induction-hardened or quench-tempered gears. But in big module gears, carburizing heat-treatment becomes time-consuming and expensive and sometimes cannot achieve good hardness due to the big mass-effect. Also, it is not easy to reduce distortion of gears during heat treatment.
Compared to non-heat-treated components, case-carburized gears are characterized by a modified strength profile in the case-hardened layer. The design of case-carburized gears is based on defined allowable stress numbers. These allowable stress numbers are valid only for a defined "optimum" case depth. Adequate heat treatment and optimum case depth guarantee maximum strength of tooth flank and tooth root.
an advancing technology and higher energy costs appear to be leading heat-treating companies in the gear industry toward cleaner, more energy-efficient processes. These processes may offer some relief to heat treaters through cooler factories and some relief to their companies through reduced energy usage.
The tooth-by-tooth, submerged induction hardening process for gear tooth surface hardening has been successfully performed at David Brown for more than 30 years. That experience - backed up by in-depth research and development - has given David Brown engineers a much greater understanding of, and confidence in, the results obtainable from the process. Also, field experience and refinement of gear design and manufacturing procedures to accommodate the induction hardening process now ensure that gears so treated are of guaranteed quality.
The induction hardening and tempering of gears and critical components is traditionally a hot subject in heat treating. In recent years, gear manufacturers have increased their knowledge in this technology for quality gears.
The performance of metal surfaces can be dramatically enhanced by the thermal process of rapid surface melting and re-solidification (RMRS). When the surface of a metal part (for instance, a gear) is melted and re-solidified in less than one thousandth of a second, the resulting changes in the material can lead to:
Increased wear and corrosion resistance,
Improved surface finish and appearance,
Enhanced surface uniformity and purity, and
Sealing of surface cracks and pores.
Quality gear manufacturing depends on controlled tolerances and geometry. As a result, ferritic nitrocarburizing has become the heat treat process of choice for many gear manufacturers. The primary reasons for this are:
1. The process is performed at low temperatures, i.e. less than critical.
2. the quench methods increase fatigue strength by up to 125% without distorting. Ferritic nitrocarburizing is used in place of carburizing with conventional and induction hardening.
3. It establishes gradient base hardnesses, i.e. eliminates eggshell on TiN, TiAIN, CrC, etc.
In addition, the process can also be applied to hobs, broaches, drills, and other cutting tools.
Gears are extremely complex shapes. Coordinate measuring machines, or CMMs, are designed to measure complex shapes. It seems to follow that CMMs world, therefore, be the ideal tool for measuring gears. But the answer is not so simple.
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