Precision Finishing of Bevel Gears by Electrochemical Honing

Authors

J. H. Shaikh, Indian Institute of Technology Indore , India
N. K. Jain, Indian Institute of Technology Indore , India
V. C. Venkatesh, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2013

Publication Title

Materials and Manufacturing Processes

Volume

28

Issue

10

First page number:

1117

Last page number:

1123

Abstract

This article presents some studies on precision finishing of straight bevel gears using electro-chemical honing (ECH) process. Surface roughness and form errors in terms of pitch and runout error have been studied as process performance measures. An innovative experimental setup has been designed and developed for ECH of bevel gears using a novel concept of twin complementary cathode gears. It ensures finishing of the entire face width of the workpiece gear and the inter-electrode gap required for the ECM action to take place. In this concept, one of the cathode gears has an undercut conducting layer sandwiched between two insulating layers while, in the other cathode gear, an insulating layer is sandwiched between two undercut conducting layers. The results have shown noticeable improvement in the surface finish and form accuracy in an optimized finishing time of 2 minutes. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images and bearing area curves have also shown improvement in the surface integrity and material contact ratio thus ensuring enhanced tribological performance and maximum service life of the gears. All these results have proven ECH as a viable and productive alternative gear finishing process.

Keywords

Electrochemical; Errors; Finishing; Finishes and finishing; Form; Gear; Gearing; Honing; Hybrid; Precision; Surfaces

Disciplines

Materials Science and Engineering | Mechanical Engineering

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

Repository Citation

Shaikh, J. H., Jain, N. K., Venkatesh, V. C. (2013). Precision Finishing of Bevel Gears by Electrochemical Honing. Materials and Manufacturing Processes, 28(10), 1117-1123.