3.2.

GEAR FAILURES
Strength calculus for gears is developed with the purpose of avoiding tooth failure.
The main causes for tooth failure have functional – bad design and/or exploitation – or
technological reasons – undue manufacturing technology and/or material treatments – being
presented as follow.
• The actual load of the gear is higher than the load considered for calculus;
explained by unknowing, during the design stage, of the real running conditions or the real
overloads, vibrations or shocks coming from the driven machine.
• The real stresses on the tooth are higher than the calculated stresses, due to the
existence of higher stress concentrators, like: deficient finishing of tooth surface; incorrect
choose of the fillet radius at the bottom of the tooth, undue machining of the ends of the
tooth etc.
• The existence of dangerous strains inside the material following bad machining or
material treatment.
• The materials are not capable to take over the imposed stresses, due to material’s
deficiency (inclusions, pinches etc.) or bad material treatment (internal fissure, residual
deformations etc.).
• Bad mounting – misalignment between a gear shaft and another driving or driven
shaft – and imperfect lubrication of the gear – contamination of the lubricant, due to longer
periods of running time etc.
The analysis of the failure causes is showing that tooth failure is induced by several
causes, produced in the same time, and also due to another machine elements (shafts,
clutches, bearings) failures.
The main tooth failures are tooth breakage and tooth profile damage.

3.2.1. Tooth Breakage

Tooth breakage is the most dangerous failure of the tooth, because the shock of the
breakage or some of the breaking pieces can induce the damage of other machine elements
of the transmissions . Tooth breakage is caused by material fatigue or by the overloads
from the transmission.
Fatigue tooth breakage is the main failure cause of the gears manufactured from
hardened steel (profile hardening higher than 45 HRC). Repeated load over the tooth has the
effect of a pulsating cycle stress (alternating cycle in the case of intermediate wheels). The
cyclic variation, from zero to the maximum bending stress σF, is leading to the fatigue of the
material and occurrence of a small fracture (fig. 2.1, a) at the base of the tooth, on the side
of tensioned fibers, favored by the stress concentrator of the filleted profile with the tooth
dedendum circle. In time, the fracture develops, leading to the decrease of the section of the
tooth and finally to breakage.
Usually the fracture section has a V-shape (fig. 2.1, b), deepest in the case of
alternating stress cycle, but can also be close to planar. The gradient of the fracture line,
different from a wheel to another, has an average of 30o towards the horizontal.
In order to avoid fatigue tooth breakage, few measures can be drawn:
 • increase of gear module;
• use of positive addendum tooth correction, leading to increased base of the tooth;
• increase of filleted radius between the profile and the base of the tooth, decreasing
the stress concentrator;
• develop of the bending strength calculus, in order to limit the bending stress at the
bottom of the tooth.

a b
Fig. 2.1

Overload tooth breakage appears as a result of shocks or overloads, inducing

bending stresses higher than the yield stress of the material. The whole tooth or just a
fraction of the tooth (in the case of helical gears) can be broken. Figure 2.2 shows a wheel
with broken tooth, as a result of overloads – fractures at the base of the teeth can be seen as
result of loads higher than the yield stress and also the remaining gap after tooth breakage.
In order to overcome overload tooth breakage the bending calculation is performed,
considering a higher static load.
Tooth ends breakage (fig. 2.3) [18, 19, 21, 36] appears in the case of manufacturing
or mounting errors, in the case of elastic shafts or shifting wheels, herringbone gears (with
large tooth angle), when the load is concentrated on fractions of the tooth, that will break. In
order to avoid this kind of failure the manufacturing precision and the shaft’s stiffness must
be improved..

Fig. 2.2 Fig. 2.3

 3.2.2. Damage Of The Tooth Profile
The main causes of failures on the tooth profile are: fatigue pitting, spalling, seizing,
abrasive wear etc.
Fatigue pitting is the result of the fatigue of the superficial crust of the tooth profile.
It is the main cause of failure for gears manufactured from unhardened steel, enclosed and
working with good lubrication and well protected against dirt. [19, 21].
At the contact of the two profiles, both normal and tangential pulsating stresses
appear. Tooth load also produces a deformation of the profile superficial crust. In time, after
several number of loading, fatigue of the material is leading to small fatigue fractures
developed under the surface of the profile [45].
The initial fatigue fractures appear in the direction of the friction forces (fig. 2.4, c)
∗)
(fig. 2.4, b), somewhere around the rolling cylinder of the gear [45]. The lubricant from
the profile will be pressed on the existing fractures (fig. 2.4, b and d), creating an
overpressure that will take to the detach of small pieces of material (v. fig. 2.4, e). In this
way, on the tooth profile, small depressions (pits) will appear leading to bad contact

a b

c d e
Fig. 2.4

between teeth.
The pits, of different dimensions and shapes (fig. 2.5), are first growing to the
bottom of the tooth and then to its head, resistance to pitting being proportional with the
ratio of the profile. After the period of lapping, the pits are small and in relative reduced
number. If they won’t spread and keep their dimensions than pitting won’t be the main
failure of the gear (v. fig. 2.5, a). If, after the period of lapping, the pits will spread and

∗)
At the driving wheel, the initial fractures are developing towards the head and the bottom of the tooth and
at the driven wheel, the initial fractures are developing towards rolling cylinder of the tooth.
increase their dimensions and number, than pitting will be the main cause of gear failure (v.
fig. 2.5, b).
In order to avoid fatigue pitting, the following measures can be drawn:
ƒ case-hardening of the tooth profile by specific treatments;
ƒ increase of the ratio of the profile by positive addendum tooth correction;
ƒ accomplish the contact stress calculus, to limit the contact stress to permissible
value.

a b
Fig. 2.5

Spalling on the tooth profile is another form of material fatigue, appearing in the
case of case-hardening (face hardening after cementation, nitrogen hardening etc.). The
result of spalling is the detach of relative
large crust from the tooth profile (fig. 2.6),
due to fatigue fractures on the boundary
between the superficial hardened layer and
the material body.
Main causes for spalling are: too thin
hardened layer and internal stresses between
the two very different layers(the hardened
layer and the soft body). In order to avoid
spalling, material treatment and
Fig. 2.6
manufacturing technology must be very
careful choose, according to gear dimensions and working conditions.
Seising is a part of wearing failures,
appearing in the case of high loaded and high
speed gears, working on high temperature and
with increased friction between teeth. Seising is
consisting of localised molecular cohesion of the
contacting surfaces, due to the action of high
pressure and the rupture of lubricant film
between them. It’s favourized by high loads and
high temperature, appearing due to high
roughness, manufacturing imperfections, elastic

Fig. 2.7
deformations of teeth and shafts. Seizing is also favourized by improper lubrication
The local welding between the surfaces are breaking and the remaining sharp edges
are creating grooves in the conjugated profile (fig. 2.7)..
In order to avoid or diminish the seizing, the following measures can be taken:
improve of lubrication; decrease of working temperature by cooling devices for lubricant;
increase of manufacturing precision and decrease of surface roughness; increase of shafts
stiffness; accomplish the seizing calculus ∗) .
Abrasive wear is the main cause of failure for gears working at low speeds, in dirty
environment, open gearing or closed gearing with
deficiency on the lubricating or sealing systems. The
abrasive materials, coming from outside, from
detached pits, or from seizing, are getting between
the contact surfaces and act as little cutting tools.
As a result of abrasive wear the involute shape
of the profile changes and increases the clearance
between the conjugated teeth. Gearing becomes
undue, with shocks and noise leading to improper
working conditions or even to tooth breakage, when
the continuity of movement is not assured. In order
to avoid abrasive wear it is necessary the
Fig. 2.8
improvement of lubricating and sealing systems.
The following conclusions can be drawn from the analyze of possible tooth failures:
ƒ gear failures appear, mostly due to fatigue pitting or fatigue tooth breaking; gears
must be calculated for contact strength and bending strength;
ƒ gear failure is induced by many constructive and functional conditions, so the
calculus methodology must consider the correction of the calculus relations with
several factors;
ƒ the materials are very important for gear strength, their treatment being essential
for the reliability of the gear.
Calculus methodology for contact and bending strength is the ISO–DIN methodology,
based on many experimental results and considering several factors of correction.

∗)
Usual for worm gears.
3.3. THERMAL AND THERMOCHEMICAL TREATMENTS
FOR GEAR STEELS
In order to satisfy various working conditions, gears are manufactured from a large
range of materials. Gears used in the construction of the main power transmissions are only
manufactured from steels with thermal or thermochemical treatments. From that reason, this
chapter is only referring to the gear steels and their thermal or thermochemical.
The steels for gear constructions are usually coming from forging or rolling.
Considering the mechanical characteristics and machinability, the steels for gear
constructions can be divided in two classes:
• mild steels, with superficial hardness less than 350 HB;
• hard steels, with superficial hardness higher than 350 HB.
In the case of mild steels, teething and finishing come after thermal treatment. In the
case of hard steels, thermal treatment is interposed between teething and finishing process
(grinding).
The mechanical characteristics of gear steels are highly depending on the quality of
the batch, of the blank material and of the thermal or thermochemical treatment. From this
point of view, the steels are divided in three quality groups []: ML, MQ and ME.
ML quality agrees with low quality steels, MQ quality agrees with steels produced by
experienced manufacturers, with adequate costs and ME quality is a special quality
imposing specific requirements for higher working safety.
Thermal treatments for gear steels are stabilizing annealing, hardening and process
annealing. Thermochemical treatments for gear steels are cementation, nitration (nitrogen
hardening) and carbonitration.

3.3.1. Stabilizing annealing (Recoacerea)

Stabilizing annealing is the thermal treatment of slow heating and cooling having the
purpose to induce the equilibrium state inside the gear material, being generally applied
after forging. There are several kinds of stabilizing annealing from which the most used is
the one called normalizing (normalizare).
The purpose of normalizing is not only to diminish or relieve the internal stresses
appeared after the forging or stamping process but also to gain a refined crystallization.
Some of the normalizing advantages are: shorter period of the thermal treatment, because of
the air cooling process; a refined pearlite crystallization (sorbite), with higher hardness than
the one resulted after dead-annealing (recoacere completă).
As a final treatment, normalizing is applied to carbon steels, only used in
construction of gears for speed reducers for light loads and small speeds. Some brands of
such steels are: OLC 45, OLC 50, OLC 55 and OLC 60.
Normalizing is also applied to alloy steels, before other thermal treatments
(hardening) or thermochemical treatments (cementation or carbonitration).
 3.3.2. Hardening (Călirea)
Hardening is the thermal treatment by which the metal is suffering a solid state
transformation, from an equilibrium to a disequilibrium state. Hardening can be made in
several ways [44], mostly used for gear steels being: deep hardening, selective hardening,
case hardening etc.
Deep hardening (călirea în profunzime) is applied to medium or high-carbon
steels with more than 0,25% carbon pursuing a martensite crystallization, with higher
hardness an strength. The hardness is dependent on the carbon percentage and the hardening
capacity of the steel, maximum hardness being gained for at least 0,6% carbon. Establish of
heating temperature and cooling speed (on water, air or oil) is made depending on the
carbon percentage, steel brand (carbon or alloy steel) and the shape of the part.
Selective hardening (călirea izotermă) is defined by cooling in an oil or melted salt
bath, getting to a bainitic crystallization. This treatment is applied to thin gear rims, made of
36 MnCrSi 13, in order to get higher than usual hardness (40 ... 55 HRC) and a satisfying
tenacity.
Case hardening (călirea superficială) is applied to alloy steels with carbon
percentage higher than 0,3% with the goal of achieving higher strength of the superficial
crust of the teeth by getting structures with higher hardness on their surface. For case
hardening, the local superficial layer of the tooth is heated and then cooled with water flow.
Heating can be made with flame (flame hardening) or electric (high frequency hardening)
generally used due to a high productivity and good quality. The high frequency operating
devices must allow the adjustment of hardening depth and also avoid overheating.

3.3.3. Process annealing (Revenirea)

The martensite crystallization gained after hardening is a very unstable, rigid and
fragile structure. Process annealing is applied to steels in order to turn the unstable and
fragile state into a more stable and less fragile structure.
Process annealing is consisted by heating the hardened part to a certain temperature,
maintaining the temperature for uniform heating and open air cooling. The annealing
temperature is very important for the final mechanical properties or superficial hardness. By
increasing the annealing temperature, the hardness and fracture strength are diminished, but
also internal strains and fragility are diminished.
In gear construction, an important group of steels is thermal treated by a sequential
deep hardening and high annealing (revenire înaltă) (500 ... 600ºC). This combination is
known as mending (îmbunătăţire) and is applied to medium carbon steels (> 0,25% C) and
sometimes with even less carbon percentage (≈ 0,2%). The hardness after mending is < 350
HB, steels with carbon percentage higher than 0,25 % are called mending steels (oţeluri
de îmbunătăţire).
Mended steels are part of the mild steels class, the main brands used in gear
construction being: 40 Cr 10, 26 MoCr 11, 34 MoCr 11, 51 VMnCr 11, 40 CrNi 12, 30
MoCrNi 20 etc.
Case hardening is followed by low annealing (revenire joasă) (160 ... 220ºC), in
special air heaters, with uniform temperature. By this process, it’s usually obtained higher
superficial hardness and a soften but higher tenacity core. Superficial deformations after
hardening are relatively small so that grinding can be performed before hardening.
Gear contact strength after case hardening increases in comparison with gear contact
strength after mending. Bending strength is increased if case hardening is applied on the
fillet between the profile and the body of the wheel. In the case of gears with small modules,
the fillet zone cannot be hardened so bending strength is diminished. The passing zone
between the hardened profile and the fillet is a strong stress concentrator. Anyway, for
improved bending strength, before case hardening, a mending treatment must be performed.
Case hardened steels are part of the hard steels class. Superficial hardness, after case
hardening and low annealing is about 48…56 HRC, and the hardness of the core remains as
after mending.

3.3.4. Cementation (cementarea)

Cementation (case carburizing) is the thermochemical treatment by which the
superficial layer of the material is enriched in carbon and is only applied to steels with low
carbon percentage (< 0,25%), called carburizing steels (oţeluri de cementare).
Cementation is defined as heating the steel parts up to a certain temperature (850 ...
1000ºC) and maintaining it for a relatively long period of time (7 ... 10 h) in a highly
carbonated environment. The environment can be solid (granule of charcoal, charred coal
etc.), gaseous (pit gas) – mostly used – or liquid (melted salts). The operating devices must
allow the adjustment of carbon concentration.
The main carburizing steels, used for gears from speed reducers or motor vehicle’s
transmissions are 15 Cr 9, 18 MnCr 11, 20 TiMnCr 12, 21 MoMnCr 12, 18 CrNi 20, 20
MoNi 35, 17 MoCrNi 14.
According to STAS 791, a soft annealing (recoacere de înmuiere) and a normalizing
have to be performed before cementation, and two hardening split by an intermediate
annealing (recoacere intermediară) must be performed after cementation. After each
hardening, a low annealing at 150 ... 200ºC must be performed. After this treatment the
gears will have a very high superficial hardness (56 ... 64 HRC), the core, with a medium
hardness 30…34 HRC, keeping tenacity; cementated steels are part of the hard steels class.
Contact strength increases of 2.5 ... 3 times, and fatigue bending strength increases
of 1.5 times, in comparison with mended steels. Cementation steels are the mostly used for
gears from speed reducers and motor vehicle’s transmissions.

3.3.5. Nitration (nitrurarea)

Nitration is the thermochemical treatment of enrichment of the superficial crust, up
to saturation in nitrogen. The parts are heated, in a special heater, up to 480 ... 650ºC, and an
ammonia gas flow is passing through the heater atmosphere. The depth of the nitration crust
is in the range 0.1 ... 0.5 mm, and the nitration treatments takes about 25 ... 50 hours. On the
surface of the teeth, very rigid nitrides are consisted, having higher resistance to wearing
and corosion.
In order to stabilize the nitrides, specific alloyed elements like Al, Cr, Mo must be
used, resulting refined and very stable. After nitration, very high hardness is obtained, up to
68 HRC, and is stabled up to 500ºC. Nitration is applied to mended steels as a final
treatment. The nitration device must allow the adjustment of gas flow pressure, dissociation
level and temperature with a precision of ±5°.
For gears from speed reducers and motor vehicle’s transmissions, nitration is applied
to special alloy steels for nitration (<0.35% C, <3.5% Cr, Mo, V, no Aluminum) but
also to some cementation or mending steels (<0,45% C, <1,5% Cr, Mo, V). Mostly
used are the following: nitration steels 21 MoMnCr 12, 26 MoCr 11, 30 MoCrNi 16;
mending steels 34 MoCr 11 (33 MoCr 11), 42 MoCr 11 (41 MoCr 11): cementation
steels 19 MoCr 11 and 21 MoMnCr 12. After the treatment, the superficial hardness of the
tooth profile is 700…850 HV1, for nitration steels and 500…650 HV1, for the other steels.

3.3.6. Carbonitration (carbonitrurarea)

is the thermochemical treatment of enrichment of the superficial crust simultaneous
in carbon and nitrogen. The two elements, carbon and nitrogen, are mutual stimulated to
diffuse in the superficial crust, so that the period of the treatment is reduced in comparison
with cementation and nitration. On the surface of the teeth, very rigid carbonitrides are
consisted, having higher resistance to contact stress and wearing.
Carbonitration can be applied both to carbon steels and alloy steels, mending or
cementation steels, being performed in liquid (bath) or gaseous environment. For gears,
carbonitration is using higher temperature (800 ... 850ºC), when the enrichment is mostly in
carbon and less in nitrogen. After carbonitration at high temperature, same as for
cementation, hardening followed by low annealing is performed.