Spur Gear Manufacturing

Complex Engineering Problem

Topic: Spur Gear Manufacturing

Submitted To: Engineer Humble Tareen
Submitted By: M.Afnan Sadaqat
Roll No: MME-18-14

Department of Institute of Advanced Materials

Bahauddin Zakaria University Multan

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Table of Contents

 Theoretical Background
 Design of Manufacturing Process
 Manufacturing Process
 Characterization/Testing Techniques
 Summary
 References

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1.Theoretical Background
A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel
or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called cogs), which mesh with another toothed part to
transmit torque. A gear may also be known informally as a cog. The teeth on the two
meshing gears all have the same shape.

Gearing is one of the most critical components in a mechanical power

transmission system, and in most industrial machinery. It is possible that gears
will become the most effective means of transmitting power in future machines
due to their high degree of reliability and compactness. In addition, the rapid
shift in the industry from heavy industries such as shipbuilding to industries such
as automobile manufacture and office automation tools will require a refined
application of gear technology. Despite being a good power transmission
mechanism, gears are also costly to manufacture and need lubrication system to
prevent them from damage. There are many types of gears such as spur,
helical, bevel, hypoid and crown. The simplest gear is the spur gear. It consists
of a cylinder disk with teeth projecting radially.

Gears can be manufactured by a variety of processes, including casting, forging,

extrusion, powder metallurgy, and blanking. As a general rule, however, machining is
applied to achieve the final dimensions, shape and surface finish in the gear.

Modern manufacturing techniques for gears are:

 Invo milling
 Power Skiving
 Disc Cutting
 Gear Hobbing

There are a number of different types of gears. Spur gears are the most common and
the easiest to manufacture. A spur gear has teeth that are uniformly spaced around the
outer surface. The teeth are aligned in a direction that is parallel to the gear axis of
rotation. A spur gear is designed to mesh with another spur gear on a parallel shaft.

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The profile of the contact surface of spur gear teeth is in the form of an involute curve.
An involute curve is the path the end of a string takes when it is being unwound from a
cylinder. The shape is the easiest to manufacture and is an efficient way to transmit
power between two contacting surfaces because of the tendency to maximize rolling
and minimize sliding. The efficiency of spur gears is in the high 90% range and
approaches that of anti-friction bearings.

Spur gears impose only radial loads (perpendicular to axis of rotation) on shaft support
bearings as opposed to other types of gears which impose radial and thrust loads
(parallel to axis of rotation) on bearings. Gears that impose thrust as well as radial loads
require shaft support bearings that are designed to support both types of loading.

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2.Design of Manufacturing Process

In gear designing, there are some parameters which are to be considered. These
parameters are given below:

 Tip Circle & Diameter

 Reference Circle & Diameter
 Base Circle & Diameter
 Root Circle & Diameter
 Addendum
 Dedendum
 Tooth Depth
 Face width
 Center Line
 Center Distance
 Reference Pitch
 Pitch Point
 Interference Point
 Backlash
 Length of path of Contract (Line of Action)

CAD softwares are extensively used to design gears today.Normally the following
parameters are enough to manufacture a spur gear.

1. Number of Teeth
2. Pressure Angle
3. Module
4. Width

All other necessary parameters like pitch circle dia, root dia, base circle diameter etc.
are derived by standard set of gear formulas. CAD softwares have revolutionized the
industry. Now designing a gear is lot easier than before. Following is a spur gear with
details of parameters given which is designed by CAD.

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Involute teeth-spur gear data (mm)

Pitch Dia 156
Teeth 39
Module 4
Outside Dia 167.4
Root Dia 149.70
Base Dia 146.59
Pressure Angle 20°
Circular Tooth thickness 6.28

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This gear with given parameters is designed in twelve steps which are
given below:
1. Make a circle with 149.70 (Root diameter) and extrude it for 50 mm (Width).

2. Create three circles in the front face of the gear blank and name it in the model
tree. Pitch dia-156, Base dia-146.59, Outer dia-167.4(from table above).

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3. Create a new coordinate system at the center of the gear blank using the datums
and front face as shown in the image. Name it “GEAR_CSYS” for reference
purpose. Make sure that the Z direction points outside, X horizontally and Y
vertically. I recommend to crate it as shown in the image (X and Y in positive
direction). This coordinate will be used to create the involute curve from equation.

4. Now the involute curve has to be created. In ProE wildfire versions, go

to Insert → Model datum → Curve or use the short cut button. This will open up
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the curve menu manager. Click on From equation and Done. Now you have to
select the newly created “GEAR_CSYS” coordinate. Then select “Cartesian”.
This will open the text window.
In Creo, type Curve in the search box at the top right corner and select “Curve
from equation” from the list.
Now paste this equation in the text window.

Base_Rad = 146.59/2
Angle = t*90
Cir_len = (PI * Base_Rad * t ) / 2
X_Pnt = Base_Rad * cos(Angle)
Y_Pnt = Base_Rad * sin(Angle)
X = X_Pnt + ( Cir_len * sin(Angle))
Y = Y_Pnt – ( Cir_len * cos(Angle))
Z=0

Save the text window and close. Click done. This will create the involute curve.

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5. Create a sketch for circular tooth thickness at pitch diameter from the intersection
point of involute curve and Pitch diameter as shown in the video.
6. Come out of the sketcher. Crate a new point at the center of the circular tooth
thickness curve using point option. To do that, go to Insert → Model
datum → Point → point. Now click the newly created curve and enter 0.5 in the
input area as shown in the image.
7. Create a new datum using the point created in step 6 and the center axis of the
gear as shown in the image. This will be used to mirror the involute curve.

8. Mirror the involute curve using the datum created in step 7.

9. Create a extrude for a single teeth. Use the two involute curves and the outer
diameter and base diameter for the sketch. Trim all other entities. Extrude the
sketch to the next face. Create the chamfer and radius.

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10. Group the Extruded teeth, chamfer and the radius in the model tree.
11. Pattern this group using the center axis of the gear. 39 teeth (No. Of teeth)  for
360 degrees.

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12. Add center hole, key way cut and chamfer to the teeth side faces. That’s it we
have a spur gear now.

3.Manufacturing Process
Manufacture of gears needs several processing operations in sequential stages
depending upon the material and type of the gears and quality desired. Those
stages generally are:
 Material Selection
 Making Gear Blanks
 Lathe Operations
 Gear Teeth Generating
 Heat Treatment
 Finishing Operation

3.1.Material Selection
Steel is the most used material for gear production. Many different kinds of steel
can be used for gears. They range from low carbon, low alloy to high carbon,
high alloy. The type used depends on load, size, and cost considerations. Low
carbon, low alloy steels are used when low cost is of prime importance. High
carbon, high alloy steels are used when high load and small size are the major

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design objectives. Steel gears can be heat treated to improve performance by

increasing strength and wear properties. Some alloys are through-hardened to
the Rockwell C42 level. Others are carburized and hardened to the Rockwell
C60 level on the outer shell leaving the inner core softer. This hardening
technique imparts good strength and wear properties to the outer layer while the
inner core gives good shock absorbing characteristics. Gear steel comes in
grades 1, 2, and 3. Higher grade numbers represent higher quality steels for
higher performing gears. Some of the items controlled are material composition,
residual stress, and microstructure. American Gear Manufacturers Association
(AGMA) standard ANSI/AGMA 2001-D04 defines the grades of steel for gears .

3.2.Making Gear Blanks

A large round bar of high grade steel is brought on production line where an
automated band saw slices off a piece that’s the right thickness for the size of
gear. This piece is called the ‘gear blank'.

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3.3.Lathe Operations
Then the gear blank is mounted on a computer controlled Lathe machine. As it
spins, a turret carrying a series of carbide cutting tools perform the cutting
operation on blank. These tools turn the blank into a specific shape. Further
operation is performed by drill tool which makes a hole right through the middle
of blank of specific size. During this, a shower of pullen prevents overheating of
the blank. The last tool carves a groove on the front of the blank. This final bit of
metal removal lessens the gear's weight.

3.4.Gear Teeth Generating

The teeth of the gear are generated by ‘Gear Hobbing Machine'. It is a type of
milling machine. The teeth or splines of the gear are progressively cut into the
material by a series of cuts made by a cutting tool called a hob. Compared to
other gear forming processes it is relatively inexpensive but still quite accurate,
thus it is used for a broad range of parts and quantities. It is the most widely used
process for or generating teeth of spur gears. More gears are produced by
Hobbing then any other process because it is quite inexpensive and still
accurate. After the generating of teeth, a computer analysis to check dimensions
by robot is done on gear to ensure that it meets the engineering specifications.

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3.5. Heat Treatment

Now the gear is taken into a furnace for heat treatment, this strengthens the
steel. When the furnace reaches a certain temperature, the carbon is injected
onside the furnace which the gear absorbs. This strengthens the steel even
further. The gear is taken out of the furnace and soaked in oil(quenching). This
quenching hardens the steel. Heat treatments also improve a gear's fatigue life
by generating subsurface compressive stresses to prevent pitting and
deformation from high contact stresses on gear teeth. These same compressive
stresses prevent fatigue failures in gear roots from cyclic tooth bending.

3.6.Finishing Operation
The heat treatment distorts steel somewhat. Finishing is done to remove the after
effects of heat treatment. So, the final operation is done by a computer controlled
grinding machine which restores them to very precise specifications. Finishing
also involves coating of the gear. Considering that spur gears can be exposed to
corrosive substances, applying the proper finish can provide ample protection.
One effective way to prevent rust on spur gears is to coat them in a black oxide
finish. After applying the necessary finish, the gear is finally complete and ready
for distribution. 

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4.Characterization/Testing Techniques
Spur gear is the simplest & widely used in power transmission system. A spur
gear is generally subjected to bending stress which causes teeth failure. However
it is observed that performance of the spur gear is not satisfactory in certain
applications and therefore it is required to test gear under such uncertain
conditions so that exact nature of spur gear failure can be determined. For that
purpose test like

 Lubrication Test
 Bending Fatigue Test
 Wear Test
 Noise Test

4.1.Lubrication Test
Prior to the reported loss-of-lubrication testing, the gears were broken-in to allow
normal run-in wear to occur. The gears were operated for at least 1 hour at ~50
percent maximum torque and at full facility speed (10,000 rpm). After this period
the load was then increased to the maximum load and run for at least several
more hours prior to conducting a loss-of-lubrication test. Most tests were run until
the teeth failed to continue to carry torque (plastically deformed), or were stopped
just prior to this condition. Test involves:

1. Warm-up of the test rig and steady-state operation of the test spur gears
under normal lubricating conditions; in this phase the gears were jet- lubricated
with an in-mesh spray bar.
2. Lubrication system shutdown.
3. Continued operation at constant speed and constant torque on the driven
gear in loss-of-lubrication condition for 30 minutes.

During all tests the static instrumentation and live video were carefully
monitored. Data from all sensors were collected at 1 Hz and stored for post-
processing.

Standard Used: AGMA 925-A03

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4.2.Bending Fatigue Test

Bending fatigue is caused by repeated bending stresses that exceed the local fatigue
strength in the tensile root fillet of a gear tooth. A fatigue crack initiates at the surface of
the root fillet and propagates into the gear tooth normal to the root fillet surface. Near
the centerline of the tooth, the crack turns and grows toward the compression root fillet.
The crack trajectory leaves a convex surface on the broken tooth fragment and a
concave surface on the gear body. So the bending Fatigue Test is performed on gear
to analyze it’s Fatigue failure. Fatigue testing machine testing a spur gear is shown in
figure.

Standard Used: ANSI/AGMA 1010-E95

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4.3.Wear Test
Wear test is carried out to predict the wear performance and to investigate
the wear mechanism. From a material point of view, the test is performed to evaluate
the wear property of a material so as to determine whether the material is adequate for
a specific wear application. The FZG Test evaluates fluid lubricating and wear protection
properties at the interface of a loaded set of gears. During the FZG test, the gears are
loaded through a torsional coupling that is set to known load conditions or stages. The
gears are rotated by a variable speed electric motor. The FZG machine, developed for
investigation of oils, is standardized according to DIN 51 354. The main
contributions and conclusions of this test are:

 It has shown that it is possible to predict, with sufficient accuracy, the

mild wear on gear tooth surfaces using phenomenological model.
 The wear on gear tooth surfaces has both a negative and a positive
impact on the performance and service life of a gear transmission.
 The mild wear is very likely to act as a catalyst for surface fatigue.

Standard Used: ISO 14635-1:2000

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4.5.Noise Test
Gear noise is sometimes the dominating noise in commercial vehicles. Noise testing of
complete gearboxes is very time-consuming and expensive. A test rig has been
designed for testing gears under controlled conditions. The test rig is of the recirculating
power type. Finite element analysis has been used to predict the dynamical properties
of the gear test rig. Experimental modal analysis has been carried out on the gearbox
housing to verify the theoretical predictions of natural frequencies. The test rig can be
used for noise and vibration testing of gears with different manufacturing errors and
different design parameters. In addition to noise testing, the rig can be used for gear life
testing and measurement of efficiency.

Standard Used: AGMA 914-B04

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5.Summary
Gear is a circular machine part having cut or teeth which mesh with another toothed
part to transmit torque. Gear is known to man since ancient times. It has several types
but spur gear is the most common and most used. In the past gears were produced
mostly by casting. But in modern times, many machining methods have been developed
such as Power skiving. Designing the gear according to parameters was difficult in the
past and time consuming is well. Now, designing of gear has become a lot easier by
computer aided design softwares. Although many materials are used to make gears but
steel is the most used. Manufacturing of gear includes making the gear blank by band
saw, performing lathe operations, generating teeth, heat treatment, finishing and
coating. Gear teeth are generated by computer controlled Hobbing machine. Heat
treatment is important to make the gear hard and finishing is done to remove the after
effects of heat treatment. Coating is also important to protect gear from corrosion. After
the gear is manufactured, it has to go through several tests to meet the engineering
specifications. Testing includes Lubrication test which is done to check the performance
of gear in different environments. Bending fatigue test is done to check if the teeth of
gear bend or fracture under specific load. Wear test is done to see how much time it
takes gear to wear out under loads. Finally, the noise test is done by test rig machine to
ensure that gear is within the range of certain noise range. All these tests are conducted
by AGMA and ISO standards. If the gear doesn’t pass through these tests, it is of no
use for engineering applications. Spur gear is used in many engineering applications
like vehicle, industrial machinery and aerospace vehicles also.

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6.References
 www.slideshare.com
 www.wikipedia.org
 www.researchgare.net
 Www.khkgears.net
 www.sme.org
 www.sandvik.coroman.com
 www.ijirmf.com
 www.sciencedirect.com
 www.jstor.org
 www.agma.org
 www.beyondmech.com

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