Gear shaping in highi strength materials is r t still a largely l l unresearched area.

e e Liebherr presents s state-of-the-art insights e a emerging from m fundamental studies of the topic. h

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Starting point and motivation Alongside the development of new alternative drives, the trend towards more efficient conventional gears continues undiminished. One central feature is lightweight and compact gearbox construction, frequently resulting in hard-toaccess machining points like shouldered shafts, inside gears or outside gears next to collars, where for design reasons there is only limited scope for tool withdrawal. Gears of this nature remain the special province of generating gear shaping. Apart from the types of gear already noted (Fig. 1), another field of applications for generating gear shaping is the machining of inside gears, where tool withdrawal is not restricted by a kind of floor. In this area, shaping competes directly with the usually productive broaching process. The choice between gear shaping and broaching for inside machining is made on economic grounds and with an eye to the required workpiece quality. Machining gears in high-strength and hardened materials Obtaining the high load capacities which power gear trains have to achieve increasingly depends on the use of highstrength or even hardened materials. Research studies into the machining of hardened steels [2] and the use of broaching [3] and shaping [4, 5] in gearmaking have led to the following conclusions: Machining hardened steels is possible in principle, but not cost-effective. Process reliability continues to be very low, so that the use of gear shaping as a hard finishing process has never become established in industry. More widespread is the shaping of materials with a tensile strength Rm of 900 to 1,100 N/mm. The current trend is towards high-alloyed and high-strength materials with a tensile strength between 1,100 and 1,400 N/mm. Machining these materials economically and with high precision is currently one of the main challenges for gear shaping. This trend conflicts both with long years of experience by machine tool, tool and gear manufacturers and with intensive research activity in the field of generating gear shaping even today we have no trustworthy principles and know-how for technology and tool design or knowledge of wear mechanisms which could enable us to predict: achievable gear and surface qualities, process stability and tool lives.

Moreover, there is a lack of fundamental scientifically-based knowledge needed to design gear shaping processes for materials of this nature without previous testing, and to realize them immediately in production. Users and machine tool and tool manufacturers consequently face very high risks when they decide to use a manufacturing process of this type. Objectives and procedure The objective of Liebherr-Verzahntechnik GmbH is to be able to design a reliable and efficient gear shaping process for high-strength materials with a tensile strength Rm of 1,100 to 1,400 N/mm by varying technology parameters and tool technology, while achieving economic tool lives. The wear mechanisms in gear shaping of conventional gear materials (Rm < 1,100 N/mm) are known, involving, for example, crater wear and cutting edge rounding or shifting. It is not known what types of wear and what wear mechanisms occur during the shaping of high-strength materials. It is, however, necessary to know this in order to design and optimize tool technology. The first step is, therefore, to acquire and characterize the wear mechanisms on the tool as a function of the material and its strength and of the technology parameters. It is also important to create a basis or reference for previous knowledge from research or from industrial practice. This makes it easier to transfer all the empirical technology and tool parameter know-how [6] for a known material, for example 42CeMo4, to higherstrength materials. Liebherr has conducted initial fundamental studies in close collaboration with industrial partners. The resulting insights have already been integrated into current production. This report presents a small selection of universally applicable results. Our technology experts will gladly assist you with further questions.

Fig. 1: Gear making cases which are the special province of gear shaping [1]

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Results of wear investigations on shaping cutters Fig. 2 compares the wear on ASP2052 cutters with a TiN coating (top) and with a (Ti,Al)N coating (center) used to machine an EN-GJS-900-8 with a tensile strength of 900 N/mm (generally referred to as ADI900). The cutting edge of one (Ti,Al)N-coated cutter (bottom) was also intentionally rounded. The design of the cutting data and the geometry of the cutting wedge were identical on all three cutters. They were tested at constant cutting parameters. All three cutters were used up to a width of wear land VB of 0.15 mm and the resulting tool lives were documented (Figures 3 and 4). As is apparent in Fig. 2, the design of the cutting edge and the choice of coating both influence the wear behaviour. All three tools exhibit abrasive wear, but the cutting edge wear resistance is significantly better on the (Ti,Al)N variant with the rounded cutting edge (bottom). This contributes to a clear increase in the tool life attained at the same width of wear land. Inuence of tool technology on the tool life It is already known for other machining processes like turning and milling that a systematic rounding of the cutting edges will substantially lengthen tool lives. Tests to date have demonstrated that this also applies to gear shaping. Fig. 3 shows the tool life diagram for an ASP2052 tool with (Ti,Al)N and a defined cutting edge rounding used to machine various test materials.
Fig. 2: Wear behaviour on different shaping cutters

The tensile strength of a 42CrMo4 was varied between Rm = 900 N/mm and Rm = 1,000 N/mm. Increasing the tensile strength by 100 N/mm causes the

350

Workpiece
Module Pressure angle Gear width Reference profile DIN861 Coating Cutting edge 3 mm 20 40 mm 2 (Ti,AI)N rounded

325 300 275

42CrMo4V 42CrMo4V2 EN-GJS-900-8 C10

Number of cuts

250 225 200 175 150 125 100 75 50 25 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120

C10

Cutting parameters
Cutting speed Generating feed Infeed per cut No. Of cuts simulated Infeed depth Tip chip thickness Mean chip thickness 25 m/min 0.3mm/DH 2.25 mm 3 6.75 mm 0.14 mm 0.09 mm

Fig. 3: Tool life diagram machinability of different materials (ASP 2052 tool material with (Ti,Al)N and cutting edge rounding)

Cutting speed (m/min.)

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Workpiece
Module Pressure angle Gear width Reference profile DIN861 3 mm 20 40 mm 2

Cutting parameters
Cutting speed Generating feed Infeed per cut No. Of cuts simulated Infeed depth Tip chip thickness Mean chip thickness 25 m/min 0.3mm/DH 2.25 mm 3 6.75 mm 0.14 mm 0.09 mm

Tool life (m/tooth)

TiN

(Ti,AI)N

(Ti,AI)N rounded

Tool type
Fig. 4: Comparative tool life as a function of tool type

tool life at a cutting speed vc of 25 m/min to fall considerably. In a comparison of tool lives, the EN-GJS-900-8 material with a tensile strength of 900 N/mm lies between the 42CrMo4 with 900 and that with 1,000 N/mm. This means that the EN-GJS-900-8 with the same tensile strength of 900 N/mm is harder to machine than the 42CrMo4. Fig. 4 below summarizes the achieved tool lives in metres per cutter tooth for the type of tool concerned under the same test conditions. Outlook and further steps Together with an industrial partner and Kempten university of applied sciences, Liebherr has submitted a research application on the generating gear shaping of high-strength materials, in order to acquire further fundamental knowhow. The next tests will focus on the question of how chip

thickness affects the wear behaviour of the cutters and their tool lives. In addition, machining tests will be performed on further material variants with tensile strengths exceeding 1,200 N/mm all with the central objective of increasing the future efficiency of generating gear shaping in high-strength materials.

Dr.-Ing. Andreas Mehr

Applications technology for grinding and shaping Liebherr-Verzahntechnik GmbH andreas.mehr@liebherr.com

Literature [1] Verzahntechnik Lorenz GmbH & Co: Verzahnwerkzeuge Ein Handbuch fr Konstruktion und Betrieb, 3rd edition, Karlsruhe: G. Braun GmbH, 1977 [2] Ackerschott, G.: Grundlagen der Zerspanung einsatzgehrteter Sthle mit geometrisch bestimmter Schneide. RWTH Aachen, doctoral thesis, 1989 [3] Klinger, M.: Rumen gehrteter Werkstoffe. RWTH Aachen, doctoral thesis, 1993 [4] Peiffer, K.: Wlzstoen einsatzgehrteter Zylinderrder. RWTH Aachen, doctoral thesis, 1991 [5] Vllers, M.: Hartfeinbearbeitung von Verzahnungen mit beschichteten Hartmetallwerkzeugen. RWTH Aachen, doctoral thesis, 1998 [6] Doerfel, O.: Optimierung der Zerspantechnik beim Fertigungsverfahren Wlzstoen. University of Karlsruhe (TH), doctoral thesis, 1998

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