Comparative bending fatigue strength of precision forged spur gears

Abstract

To determine the bending fatigue strength of precision forged spur gears and to compare the results with those obtained from conventional cut gears, single tooth bending fatigue tests were carried out on both through-hardened and induction-hardened gear teeth. The gears were produced from rolled bar cut blanks, disc forged blanks or precision forged teeth blanks. For this purpose, a special test fixture was designed and built for an Amsler high-frequency vibrophore fatigue testing machine. The results show that the endurance limit of precision forged gears is significantly higher than those obtained from cut gears. The bending fatigue strength of forged gears was some 12.5 per cent higher than the cut teeth in a through-hardened condition and 8.4 per cent higher for the induction-hardened teeth. The effect of surface roughness at the tooth root area on the bending fatigue strength of the forged gears is also shown.