Wear resistance of plasma and pulse plasma nitrided gears

摘要

In this study, wear behavior of plasma and pulse plasma nitrided gears, made from 42CrMo4 steel, was evaluated under a lubricated sliding and pitting wear regime. The nitrided samples were fully characterized before and after wear testing using metallographic, microhardness and surface examination techniques. Sliding wear tests were carried out on a pin-on-disc machine in which hardened ball-bearing steel discs were mated to nitrided pins. Pitting wear tests were performed using the standard FZG machine with C-type gears. (FZG refers to the Gear Research Centre, a part of the Institute for Machine Elements at the Technical University of Munich, Germany.) Also, economic evaluation and comparison of hardening and plasma nitriding processes were carried out. The test results indicate that sliding wear resistance and, even more so, pitting wear resistance of 42CrMo4 steel gears can be greatly improved by means of plasma and pulse plasma nitriding.