Effect of Gear-Side Case-Hardening on Residual Stresses of Case-Hardened Gears

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a study on effects of the case depth, the case-hardened part, the face width, the rim thickness and the standard pressure angle on residual stresses of case-hardened gears. A heat conduction analysis and an elastic-plastic stress analysis for the case-hardening process of spur gears were carried out by the three-dimensional finite-element method (3D-FEM), and then residual stresses were obtained. It was found that the compressive residual stress σ*θ = 30° at Hofer’s critical section of the end of the face width is smaller in magnitude than that of the middle of the face width, and that the absolute value of σ*θ = 30° of the middle of the face width decreases owing to case-hardening the gear-side and the decreasing rate increases with an increasing case depth and a decreasing face width.