Worm gears display unique behavior of surfaces because of the presence of wear phenomena in addition to contact pressure phenomena.

The first part of this article describes the analytical design method developed by the author to evaluate the load capacity of worm gears. The second part gives a short description of the experimental program and testing resources being used at CETIM to check the basic assumptions of the analytical method; and to determine on gears and test wheels the surface pressure endurance limits of materials that can be used for worm gears. The end of the article compares the results yielded by direct application of the method and test results.