Parametric analysis of magnetorheological finishing process for improved performance of gear profile

Abstract

Abstract In gear manufacturing industry, the fine finishing of gear teeth profile in gear boxes is an essential factor for defining quality of the manufactured products. Fine finished gear teeth profile is used in highly precise manufacturing processes, scientific instruments, aircraft, and military equipment. The finished gear teeth performance rests on the shape precision that increases the service life, reliability and reduces the noise and vibrations at higher speed. For obtaining the required shape accuracy of gear teeth, various finishing processes are developed. In this work, a recently developed magnetorheological gear profile finishing (MRGPF) process is used for the surface finish of the gear teeth profile of hardened EN24 steel material. The hardened EN24 steel material is extremely useful in industry for the manufacturing of spur gears, bevel gears, and helical gears. Response surface methodology is utilized for the parametric study of the MRGPF process. The outcomes of different process parameters variables on the percentage change in surface roughness of hardened EN24 steel spur gear is investigated and optimized. The optimized process parameters are utilized for improving the gear shape accuracy through fine finishing. The surface morphology of the ground surface and finished surface after the MRGPF process has been analyzed using the scanning electron microscopy. It reveals that the present magnetorheological (MR) finishing process removes the grinding burn, grinding lays and surface cracks from the initial gear surface. The value of surface roughness reduces from 220 nm to 20 nm in 40 min of finishing cycle with the optimized parameters. Also, the improvement in gear shape accuracy after MR finishing with the optimized parameters is measured in DIN standards to check the accuracy and precision of the gear dimensions.