Material selection can play an important role in the constant battle to reduce gear noise. Specifying tighter dimensional tolerances or redesigning the gear are the most common approaches design engineers take to minimize noise, but either approach can add cost to the finished part and strain the relationship between the machine shop and the end user. A third, but often overlooked, alternative is to use a material that has high noise damping capabilities. One such material is cast iron.

For a long time, relatively high noise levels have been generally accepted for industrial gear units in the 10-100 kW power range. However, due to changing environmental awareness - both in and around industrial sites - customers expectations have moved drastically towards low noise as a key differentiating factor.

Friction weighs heavily on loads that the supporting journals of gear trains must withstand. Not only does mesh friction, especially in worm gear drives, affect journal loading, but also the friction within the journal reflects back on the loads required of the mesh itself.

I must admit that after thumbing through the pages of this relatively compact volume (113 pages, 8.5 x 11 format), I read its three chapters(theory of gearing, geometry and technology, and biographical history) from rear to front. It will become obvious later in this discussion why I encourage most gear engineers to adopt this same reading sequence!

Gear designers today are continually challenged to provide more power in less space and improve gear performance. The following article looks at some of the most common ways to increase the power density or improve the performance of gear trains. The author also takes an in-depth look at the case of a steel worm mating with a plastic helical gear and explores ways to optimize this increasingly common configuration.

Gear design and specification are not one and the same. They are the first two steps in making a gear. The designer sits down and mathematically defines the gear tooth, working with the base pitch of the gear, the pressure angle he wants to employ, the number of teeth he wants, the lead, the tooth thickness, and the outside, form and root diameters. With these data, the designer can create a mathematical model of the gear. At this stage, he will also decide whether the gear will be made from existing cutting tools or whether new tools will be needed, what kind of materials he will use, and whether or not he will have the gear heat treated and finished.

The efficient and reliable transmission of mechanical power continues, as always, to be a central area of concern and study in mechanical engineering. The transmission of power involves the interaction of forces which are transmitted by specially developed components. These components must, in turn, withstand the complex and powerful stresses developed by the forces involved. Gear teeth transmit loads through a complex process of positive sliding, rolling and negative sliding of the contacting surfaces. This contact is responsible for both the development of bending stresses at the root of the gear teeth and the contact stresses a the contacting flanks.

In his Handbook of Gear Design (Ref.1), Dudley states (or understates): "The best gear people around the world are now coming to realize that metallurgical quality is just as important as geometric quality." Geometric accuracy without metallurgical integrity in any highly stressed gear or shaft would only result in wasted effort for all concerned - the gear designer, the manufacturer, and the customer - as the component's life cycle would be prematurely cut short. A carburized automotive gear or shaft with the wrong surface hardness, case depth or core hardness may not even complete its basic warranty period before failing totally at considerable expense and loss of prestige for the producer and the customer. The unexpected early failure of a large industrial gear or shaft in a coal mine or mill could result in lost production and income while the machine is down since replacement components may not be readily available. Fortunately, this scenario is not common. Most reputable gear and shaft manufacturers around the world would never neglect the metallurgical quality of their products.

This is the fourth and final article in a series exploring the new ISO 6336 gear rating standard and its methods of calculation. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author as an individual. They do not represent the opinions of any organization of which he is a member.

Gear design has long been a "black art." The gear shop's modern alchemists often have to solve problems with a combination of knowledge, experience and luck. In many cases, trial and error are the only effective way to design gears. While years of experience have produced standard gearsets that work well for most situations, today's requirements for quieter, more accurate and more durable gears often force manufacturers to look for alternative designs.