Failure Analysis and Product Improvement for Hypoid Gearset of Rear Axle

Abstract

The current market trend shows that LCV vehicle sales are in increasing phase and more demands are expected by customers in which the Vehicle manufacturers should meet their requirements and applicate the right product accordingly. This paper will briefly explain about the investigation results of Ring gear premature failure in LCV Rear axles. The rear axle is a Structural member which should meet both Fatigue and impact strength requirements; thereby axle can meet Customer requirements which are used to experiencing different duty cycles and load patterns. The scope of this paper explains about detailed Investigation which has been taken like Field Study, Failure Part’s Strip down analysis and Fracture analysis. In addition to that Failure simulation analysis was also performed through CAE verification and Vehicle level Validation for correlation study. Based on the Investigation results, Gear design modification proposals have been taken and underwent the CAE analysis to finalize opt design for development. Post development of new gear set, Vehicle level validation has been carried out and found no issues in Field operating condition. Keywords: LCV vehicles, CAE Analysis, Hypoid Gearset, Ring Gear, Failure analysis, Fracture Analysis, Strip down analysis, Failure, simulation analysis