Non-contact flank modifications of spur gears using cathodic gear tools and mechanisms: an experimental study

ABSTRACT

 This paper introduces cathodic gear tools designed for non-contact modification of spur gears through pulsed electrochemical flank modification. Operating with continuous rotary motion, these tools achieve profile crowning, lead crowning, tip relieving, root relieving, and end relieving. Anodic workpiece gears experience constant or variable reciprocating velocity based on the modification type. Experimental investigations confirm that the tools not only achieve the intended flank modification but also reduce flank surface roughness, eliminating hob cutter marks and cracks from the modified spur gear surfaces. The magnitude of intended modifications increases with higher voltage and longer modification duration. Notably, root relieving requires a longer duration (20 minutes) compared to other modifications (12 minutes). Details of variation in surface roughness and surface morphology using scanning electron microscopy are also presented to validate the developed mechanism.

KEYWORDS:

• Flank
• modification
• spur
• cathodic
• gear
• tools
• pulsed
• electrochemical

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the DST-FIST Centre of Excellence in Gear Engineering and other labs at IIT Indore for providing the required facilities for the present research work. The first author would like to thank the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, for supporting him as a DST-INSPIRE Research Fellow to conduct this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Patent

A patent with application number 202221016570 was submitted to the Indian Patent Office based on the present research work. A response to its initial examination report has also been filed, and it is being reviewed.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10426914.2023.2289670