Modeling of surface roughness in a novel magnetorheological gear profile finishing process

Abstract

Fine finishing of spur gears reduces the vibrations and noise and upsurges the service life of two mating gears. A new magnetorheological gear profile finishing (MRGPF) process is utilized for the fine finishing of spur gear teeth profile surfaces. In the present study, the development of a theoretical mathematical model for the prediction of change in surface roughness during the MRGPF process is done. The present MRGPF is a controllable process with the magnitude of the magnetic field, therefore, the effect of magnetic flux density (MFD) on the gear tooth profile has been analyzed using an analytical approach. Theoretically calculated MFD is validated experimentally and with the finite element analysis. To understand the finishing process mechanism, the different forces acting on the gear surface has been investigated. For the validation of the present roughness model, three sets of finishing cycle experimentations have been performed on the spur gear profile by the MRGPF process. The surface roughness of the spur gear tooth surface after experimentation was measured using Mitutoyo SJ-400 surftest and is equated with the values of theoretically calculated surface roughness. The results show the close agreement which ranges from −7.69% to 2.85% for the same number of finishing cycles. To study the surface characteristics of the finished spur gear tooth profile surface, scanning electron microscopy is used. The present developed theoretical model for surface roughness during the MRGPF process predicts the finishing performance with cycle time, improvement in the surface quality, and functional application of the gears.