Shear cutting induced residual stresses in involute gears and resulting tooth root bending strength of a fineblanked gear

The manufacturing of case-hardened gears usually consists of several complex and expensive steps to ensure high load carrying capacity. The load carrying capacity for the main fatigue failure modes pitting and tooth root breakage can be increased significantly by increasing the near surface compressive residual stresses. In earlier publications, different shear cutting techniques, the near-net-shape-blanking processes (NNSBP’s), were investigated regarding a favorable residual stress state. The influence of the process parameters on the amount of clean cut, surface roughness, hardness and residual stresses was investigated. Furthermore, fatigue bending tests were carried out using C-shaped specimens. This paper reports about involute gears that are manufactured by fineblanking. This NNSBP was identified as suitable based on the previous research, because it led to a high amount of clean cut and favorable residual stresses. For the fineblanked gears of S355MC (1.0976), the die edge radii were varied and the effects on the cut surface geometry, hardness distribution, surface roughness and residual stresses are investigated. The accuracy of blanking the gear geometry is measured, and the tooth root bending strength is determined in a pulsating test rig according to standardized testing methods. It is shown that it is possible to manufacture gears by fineblanking with a high precision comparable to gear hobbing. Additionally, the cut surface properties lead to an increased tooth root bending strength.