ENGINEERED SURFACES FOR IMPROVED GEAR SCUFFING RESISTANCE

摘要

Scuffing is a severe form of adhesive wear that can occur on gear flanks operating at combinations of high sliding speed and contact stress in marginal lubrication. Engineered Surfaces (ES) refers to the selection, application, and use of certain topographical modification (TM) techniques and thin film coatings applied using advanced physical vapor deposition (PVD) to improve the tribological performance of mechanical components. In this study, the effects of ES technology upon the scuffing resistance of helical gears were empirically determined. Six different treatments of ES technology were tested along with a baseline treatment of uncoated ground surfaces. In the testing, the gear speed was kept constant while the input torque on the gears was incrementally increased until scuffing was observed. Three ES treatments produced statistically significant increases in the scuffing torque relative to the baseline. Increases in mean scuffing torque using ES technology were as high as 89 %.