Sustainable production of helical pinion gears: Environmental effects and product quality

Abstract

The manufacture of helical pinion gears has involved machining processes such as hobbing and shaving to achieve the required dimensional accuracy. However, these conventional processes have some disadvantages such as excessive material loss, low productivity, high-energy consumption, and high carbon emissions. To overcome these problems, a cold extrusion process is applied to the manufacture of helical gears. In this study, we analyze the environmental effects of the cold extrusion process, designed for the sustainable production of helical gears. We quantitatively analyze the environmental effects of the conventional machining and cold extrusion processes, using the Life Cycle Assessment technique in accordance with ISO 14000. This analysis includes the energy consumption and carbon emissions for a helical gear manufactured using the conventional machining processes and those of single- and double-type gears manufactured using the cold extrusion process. Moreover, the material properties of the extruded helical gears are compared with the conventionally machined gears. In conclusion, the extruded gears exhibited a higher strength while consuming less energy during their manufacture than the gears manufactured using the conventional machining processes. Further, this alternative process is more cost effective as it generates less waste and exhibits high productivity compared to the conventional machining processes.