Root Cause Failure Analysis of a Boiler Feed Pump Main Oil Pump Gear

摘要

1. Mechanical misalignment of the pinion (driven gear) led to cyclic shock loading or stress concentration at the end of the tooth, which formed a crack and caused the gear tooth to break off. 2. The splinters from some broken teeth would have pounded the other teeth, causing them to crack at the root and break. 3. The mode of the gear failure appeared to be tooth-bending fatigue.