Experimental Investigation on Fatigue Failure of Spur Gear Teeth under Elasto Hydrodynamic Lubrication Conditions

This study consists of experimental study involve gear contact fatigue failure: gear pitting spalling). For pitting studies, several materials and surface treatments were investigated at various stress levels. These surface treatments included (i) hobbed and shaved (baseline)(HS), (ii) chemically polished(CP) and (iii) shot peened and plastic honed(SP+PH). Pitting fatigue lives of chemically polished gears were greater than those of baseline specimens. Both shot peened and plastic honed gears and ground gears were shown to have greater pitting fatigue lives than baseline gears. The improved pitting fatigue life of ground gears over baseline gears appears related to the improved involute profile shapes of the specimens.