Gear deformation: the most frequent causes and the most useful solutions
novembre 03, 2021
Certainly, deformations are the worst enemy of gear manufacturers because in the worst case they lead to declare the piece scrap or even the whole lot. Recently, it happened to us that a shaft for a pre-series Belgian customer reacted rather badly to the heat treatment, deforming completely inwards. This did not allow us to carry out any corrective processing by having to declare the scrap piece.
What to do to save the lot?
First of all, the cause of the deformation must be identified together with the customer and the heat treatment supplier. The customer has often conducted a thorough study of his product, so it is highly likely that he can help us find the best solution. The only thing to do to save the batch is to hope that the treatmentist realizes the error from the first piece and stops processing. It is often very complex because it is not clear why the piece reacts that way.
Some of the possible causes of gear deformation
As we said above, the causes of gear deformation can be many. Starting from the material that may have defects or even the parameters of execution of the treatment are wrong. What can also happen is an error in the previous stages of the cycle agreed with the customer. Defining the reason why a shaft or a gear is deformed is very complex, if you realize that the material has structural problems, it is declared waste. However, if you realize that the problem lies in the cycle or in the heat treatment, the recovery margin of the batch is very high.
How we reacted to the deformation problem
This Belgian customer's piece was very complex and new, being a prototype. So, it was not easy to work it out and find the optimal solution. The peculiarity of this piece is that the part with the largest diameter, which had to be treated with hardening, was hollow. This leads to a narrowing of the passage of the ring with which the processing is carried out. The solution we decided to test is to insert a pad into the cavity to prevent the piece from deforming. This saves the batch, however it is not optimal as a solution. In fact, for future production batches, a possible modification of the cycle will be to leave the internal part of the piece full to avoid deformation. In fact, the turning phase for emptying the piece can also be carried out later without affecting the quality of the piece.
Have you ever found yourself dealing with such a big problem as that of the deformation of a gear?
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