Lubrication - as it pertains to the gear industry - is a rather large universe, much, much more than the old double-entendre, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease."

In this paper the effects of thermally induced geometry distortions on load distribution and transmission error have been analyzed.

A reader asks: Is the ISO VG 320 adequate, or should a higher viscosity grade be used? How can we stop macropitting in gear teeth?

Lubricant experts are doing more than ever to make their products less toxic and harmful to everything from the environment to the people using them — which comes with plenty of extra benefits for productivity, too!

Base oils play an important role in determining the performance of an industrial gear oil. They influence characteristics such as low temperature performance, biodegradability, energy efficiency and high temperature thermal and oxidative stability.

Design and manufacture of gears is among the most complex and difficult disciplines of the industrial arts. From initial conception to machining and finishing, making gears ain't bean-bag. And guess what? Once those gears roll off the assembly line, it doesn't get any simpler. That's because gears - the metal ones at least - require the correct lubrication in order to prevent - or delay as long as possible - such things as wear, scuffing and Hertzian fatigue.

This paper addresses the lubrication of helical gears - especially those factors influencing lubricant film thickness and pressure. Contact between gear teeth is protected by the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) mechanism that occurs between nonconforming contact when pressure is high enough to cause large increases in lubricant viscosity due to the pressure-viscosity effect, and changes of component shape due to elastic deflection. Acting together, these effects lead to oil films that are stiff enough to separate the contacting surfaces and thus prevent significant metal-to-metal contact occurring in a well-designed gear pair.

In this paper a thermal network model is developed to simulate the thermal behavior of a high-speed, one-stage gear unit which is jet-lubricated.

In order to properly select a grease for a particular application, a sound knowledge of the influence of different grease components and operating conditions on the lubrication supply mechanism and on different failure modes is of great benefit.

This review of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) was derived from many excellent sources (Refs. 1–5). The review of Blok’s flash temperature theory was derived from his publications (Refs. 6–9). An excellent general reference on all aspects of tribology is the Encyclopedia of Tribology (Ref. 10).