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Procedia CIRP000–000
87 (2020) 3–12
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
5th CIRP CSI 2020
5th CIRP CSI 2020
Surface integrity aspects in gear manufacturing
Surface integrity
28th CIRP aspects
Design Conference, in
Maygear
2018,manufacturing
Nantes, Francea,b
B. Karpuschewski , M. Beutner , J. Eckebrecht , J. Heinzel , T. Hüsemanna,b
a,b* c a,b

A new methodology
B. Karpuschewski to foranalyze
a) Leibniz Institute
a,b*
, M. Beutner
Materials the cfunctional
Engineering , J. Badgasteiner
IWT, Eckebrecht Str.and
a,b
, J.physical
3, D-28359Heinzel a,b
, architecture
Bremen, GermanyT. Hüsemanna,b of
b) University of Bremen, Badgasteiner Str. 1, D-28359 Bremen, Germany
existing products
a)
c) Leibniz for
Institutean
Otto-von-Guericke assembly
for University
Materials Magdeburg,oriented
Engineering IWT, Badgasteinerproduct
Universitaetsplatz Str.
2, 3, D-28359
D-39106 family identification
Bremen,Germany
Magdeburg,
b) University of Bremen, Badgasteiner Str. 1, D-28359 Bremen, Germany
Germany

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 421-218 51100; fax:

c) Otto-von-Guericke +49 421-218
University 51102. E-mail
Magdeburg, address: karpu@iwt-bremen.de
Universitaetsplatz 2, D-39106 Magdeburg, Germany
Paul Stief *, Jean-Yves Dantan, Alain Etienne, Ali Siadat
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 421-218 51100; fax: +49 421-218 51102. E-mail address: karpu@iwt-bremen.de
Abstract École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers, Arts et Métiers ParisTech, LCFC EA 4495, 4 Rue Augustin Fresnel, Metz 57078, France
Abstract
Gears are highly loaded components in many different application areas such as automotive, aircraft turbines, ships or wind energy systems. The
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 3 87 37 54 30; E-mail address: paul.stief@ensam.eu
demand on gears can be summarized by ever rising load capacity on the one hand side and significant noise reduction on the other hand. Both
Gears
demands arecan
highly
onlyloaded components
be fulfilled in many
by adapted geardifferent
finishingapplication areas such as
processes generating theautomotive,
best possible aircraft
macro-turbines, ships
and micro or windas
geometry energy systems.
well as The
the desired
demand on gearsstate.
surface integrity can beThesummarized by ever
paper presents risingwork
research load oncapacity
analyzingon the
theone handload
thermal sideonandgears
significant noisehobbing,
during gear reductionsurface
on theintegrity
other hand. Both
states by
demands
different can only
hard gear be fulfilledoperations
finishing by adapted gear
and finishing processes
possibilities to avoid generating
thermal the best
damage in possible
gear macro- andbymicro
manufacturing geometry
adapted asmonitoring
process well as theand
desired
fast
Abstract
surface integrityanalyzing
state. Thetechniques.
paper presents research work on analyzing the thermal load on gears during gear hobbing, surface integrity states by
non-destructive
different hard gear finishing operations and possibilities to avoid thermal damage in gear manufacturing by adapted process monitoring and fast
Innon-destructive
today’s business environment,
analyzing the trend towards more product variety and customization is unbroken. Due to this development, the need of
techniques.
© 2020
agile and The Authors. Published
reconfigurable production by Elsevier
systems B.V.
emerged to cope with various products and product families. To design and optimize production
© 2020
This The
is an Authors.
open access Published
articlethe by Elsevier
under the CC B.V.
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
systems
© 2020 as well
The as
Authors.to choose
Published optimal
by product
Elsevier matches,
B.V. committee product analysis methods are needed. Indeed, most of the known methods aim to
This is an
Peer-review open access
under article under
responsibility of the
the CC BY-NC-ND
scientific license
of (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
the 5th product
CIRP CSI 2020
analyze a product
This is an open
Peer-review under or one
access product family
article under
responsibility on the physical
the scientific
of the CC BY-NC-ND level.
committee Different
license
of the families,
2020 however, may differ largely in terms of the number and
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
5th CIRP CSI
nature of components.
Peer-review under This fact impedes
responsibility an efficient
of the scientific comparison
committee of the and choiceCSI
5thhobbing;
CIRP of 2020
appropriate product family combinations for the production
Keywords: gear grinding; surface integrity;
system. A new methodology is proposedgear honing;
to analyze gear hobbing; skive
existing products residual
in view of their stresses
functional and physical architecture. The aim is to cluster
these products
Keywords: gearingrinding;
new assembly
surface oriented product
integrity; gear families
honing; for the optimization
gear hobbing; skive hobbing;of existing
residual assembly lines and the creation of future reconfigurable
stresses
assembly systems. Based on Datum Flow Chain, the physical structure of the products is analyzed. Functional subassemblies are identified, and
a functional analysis is performed. Moreover, a hybrid functional and physical architecture graph (HyFPAG) is the output which depicts the
1. Introduction away from combustion engines to battery driven concepts.
similarity between product families by providing design support to both, production system planners and product designers. An illustrative
example of a nail-clipper is used to explain the proposed methodology. An However
1. Introduction industrial
away from
evenstudy
case hereon
combustion
gears are still families
twoengines
product necessary, but a significantly
of steering
to battery drivencolumns of
concepts.
Gears belong to the most used machine elements of mankind
thyssenkrupp Presta France is then carried out to give a first industrial evaluation lower number
of the of
proposedgears per car
approach. will be needed. At the same time
However even here gears are still necessary, but a significantly
©and
2017have been
Thebelong
Gears
utilized
Authors. in different
toPublished
the most used
applications
by Elsevier
machine
since more than
B.V.elements of mankind
gears find fast rising use in aircraft turbines due to lower noise
lower number of gears per car will be needed. At the same time
2000 years
Peer-review [1]. They
underutilized are still
responsibility the best choice
of the applications to convert
scientific committee torque
of thethan
28th CIRP generation
Design and reduced fuel consumption [4].
and have been in different since more gears findConference
fast rising2018.
use in aircraft turbines due to lower noise
and speed in a wide range of applications from the micro world However modern high-performance transmissions are
2000 years [1]. They are still the best choice to convert torque generation and reduced fuel consumption [4].
to large Assembly;
Keywords: scale installations. While
Design method; Familyinidentification
ancient times the gears steadily faced with torque increase and downsizing of the
and speed in a wide range of applications from the micro world However modern high-performance transmissions are
were basically used to transport water from the spring to gearbox space and mass. How hard finishing processes are
to large scale installations. While in ancient times the gears steadily faced with torque increase and downsizing of the
agricultural application, they are nowadays used in all kinds of affected by these requirements and which strategies face the
were basically used to transport water from the spring to gearbox space and mass. How hard finishing processes are
basic human needs. Gear boxes are applied to create any kind corresponding demands is focus of this paper. The only gear
1.agricultural
Introduction application, they are nowadays used in all kinds of ofaffected by these
the product requirements
range and which
and characteristics strategies face
manufactured the
and/or
of mobility (on land, on water, in the air), to generate electricity material considered here is steel due to its dominating
basic human needs. Gear boxes are applied to create any kind assembled corresponding in thisdemands
system. is
In focus of this the
this context, paper.
mainThe only gear
challenge in
(wind power plants), in medical applications (drug delivery), in importance in the afore-mentioned areas. However different
ofDue
mobilityto (on
theland,faston water, in the air),into generate
development the domain electricity
of material considered
modelling and analysishereis nowis steel duetotocope
not only its with
dominating
single
metrology (clocks and watches) and in numerous industrial other gear materials such as plastics also have a huge market
(wind power plants),
communication and in an medical
ongoingapplications
trend of (drug delivery),
digitization andin products,
importance in the product
a limited afore-mentioned areas. However
range or existing different
product families,
applications. The worldwide demand for gears is currently in impact [5], but will not be discussed here because of very
metrology (clocks
digitalization, and watches)
manufacturing and inare
enterprises numerous industrial but
facing important other
alsogear
to bematerials such asand
able to analyze plastics also have
to compare a huge
products to market
define
the range of 230 Billion $ [2], but there is quite some limited research regarding surface integrity aspects.
applications.
challenges in The worldwide
today’s marketdemand for gears ais currently
environments: continuingin new impact [5], families.
product but will Itnot
canbebediscussed
observed here because existing
that classical of very
uncertainty about the future of gear boxes in automotive
the range
tendency of 230
towards Billionof$product
reduction [2], but there is quite
development timessome
and limited families
product researchare regarding surface
regrouped integrity
in function of aspects.
clients or features.
applications. Although the electrification of cars has taken 2. Process chains for gear manufacturing
uncertainty
shortened aboutlifecycles.
product the future of gear there
In addition, boxesis inan automotive
increasing However, assembly oriented product families are hardly to find.
years to be accepted and is today on a market share of just 3%
applications.
demand Although the
of customization, electrification
being at the sameoftime carsin has taken
a global 2. On
Process chains family
the product for gear manufacturing
level, products differ mainly in two
of all sold cars [3], forecasts see the share in a range of 50% for An extract of the most common process chains to produce
years to be accepted
competition with and is today
competitors all on a market
over the shareThis
world. of just 3% main characteristics: (i) the number of components and (ii) the
trend,
the year 2040. The environmental necessity supported by high performance gears is shown in Fig. 1 [6]. The whole field
of all sold
which cars [3], forecasts
is measures
inducing see the share
the development from in amacro
range of 50% for typeAn extract of the(e.g.
most common process chains to produce
political seems to move individual mobilitytoof micro
people of components
of green, mechanical,
i.e. soft machining will not beelectrical,
coveredelectronical).
here, there are
the yearresults
markets, 2040. inThe environmental
diminished necessity
lot sizes due to supported
augmenting by high performance
Classical gears is shown
methodologies in Fig.mainly
considering 1 [6]. single
The whole field
products
politicalvarieties
product measures seems to move
(high-volume individual mobility
to low-volume production)of people
[1]. of green,
or solitary,i.e.already
soft machining
existing will not be covered
product families here, therethe
analyze are
2212-8271 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
To cope with this augmenting variety as well as to be able to product structure on
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) a physical level (components level) which
identify
2212-8271
Peer-reviewpossible
©under Theoptimization
2020responsibility
Authors. of
Publishedpotentials
by Elsevier
the scientific in ofthe
B.V.
committee existing
the 5th causes difficulties regarding an efficient definition and
CIRP CSI 2020
This is an open
production access article
system, under the CC
it is important toBY-NC-ND license knowledge
have a precise (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
comparison of different product families. Addressing this
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 5th CIRP CSI 2020
2212-8271 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
This is an©open
2212-8271 2017access article Published
The Authors. under theby CC BY-NC-ND
Elsevier B.V. license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review
Peer-review under
under responsibility
responsibility of scientific
of the the scientific committee
committee of the of theCIRP
28th 5th CIRP
DesignCSI 2020 2018.
Conference
10.1016/j.procir.2020.05.112
 4 B. Karpuschewski et al. / Procedia CIRP 87 (2020) 3–12
2 Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2019) 000–000
many different chip removal and non-cutting technologies
available [7]. The succeeding heat treatment is an essential part
in the process chain, determining the micro structure, hardness
and residual stress state of the gear prior to the final machining
step. Depending on the type of heat treatment different levels
of geometrical distortion of the gear can prevail.
Fig. 1. Gear manufacturing process chain
One of the most prominent heat treatment processes is
conventional case-hardening after carburizing of suitable steels
like 16MnCr5 (1.7131), 25MoCr4 (1.7325) or 18CrNiMo7-6
(1.6587) and 42CrMo4 (1.7225), the two latter materials
especially suitable for larger modulus gears. Recently also
modified processes, where carburizing is replaced by
carbonitriding are further explored [8, 9]. This widely used
process generates compressive residual stresses in the
subsurface of the material with variable micro structure,
surface hardness, case-hardening depth (CHD) and retained
austenite content depending on the individual time–
temperature curves used during heat treatment. Fig. 2 shows a
representative residual stress profile for a case- hardened gear
made of 25MoCr4. A constant compressive residual stress level
of approx. -200 MPa is visible throughout the whole analyzed
depth of 200 µm and progresses even further into the material
[10, 11].
Fig. 2. Residual stress profiles after case hardening and cleaning by shot
peening [10, 11]
Depending on the type of heat treatment and especially on
the way of quenching and tempering a succeeding cleaning
operation might be applied to the gear to remove surface carbon
and oxidation layers. This cleaning often done by shot peening
has a significant impact on the resulting residual stress profile,
Fig. 2. High compressive residual stresses up to -1000 MPa can
be found in the near subsurface area, the initial stress state after
heat treatment is reached in depths beyond 150 µm. For this
chosen gear example with a modulus mn = 4.32 mm usually
150 µm of material is removed per flank during hard finishing,
Fig. 3 [7]. Thus the induced residual stresses by cleaning with
shot peening are more or less totally removed by the succeeding
gear finishing operation. Any attempt to modify the residual
stress state of a gear flank towards high compressive stresses
has to take these effects into account. Additionally if shot
peening is applied for the purpose of compressive residual
stress generation the gear should be pre-finished [12]. Shot
peening alters the surface of the flank, an “orange-peel” like
appearance of the top layer can be observed and needs
succeeding removal. This final finishing step should remove as
little material as possible (< 30 µm) just to maintain the induced
compressive residual stresses.
Fig. 3. Material allowance on gear flanks for hard finishing depending on
modulus [6]
3. Hard finishing of gears
Due to the still unpredictable distortion behavior of heat-
treated soft machined gears and the uneven surface material
composition (e.g. oxidation layers) gear hard machining is the
necessary final process step to achieve the two most important
goals, maximum load capacity and minimum running noise,
Fig. 4 [5, 11].
Fig. 4. Purpose of gear hard finishing [6, 13]
The related measures like flank modifications and reduction
of form errors have thus to be achieved with the most suitable
manufacturing processes. As shown in Fig. 1 hard fine
machining can be done utilizing processes with geometrically
well-defined cutting edges as well as with non-defined cutting
edges [6]. In the following sections the impact of different
finishing processes based on abrasive processes (section 3.1.),
on cutting processes (section 3.2), and on rolling processes
(section 4.) on surface integrity of the gear will be discussed.
Some aspects of monitoring the surface integrity state in the
production environment will be addressed in section 5. The
paper ends with some conclusions and a brief outlook towards
the future of gears.
 B. Karpuschewski et al. / Procedia CIRP 87 (2020) 3–12
Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2019) 000–000
3.1 Finishing by abrasive processes
The grinding processes of gears can be distinguished in
generating grinding and profile grinding though another
classification of continuous and discontinuous processes has to
be made, Fig. 5.
In this paper only the most important variants, namely
continuous generating grinding, discontinuous profile grinding
and gear honing will be discussed. While continuous
generating grinding is by far the most productive finishing
process for large batch production in automotive and general
transmission applications up to a modulus of mn,max = 10 mm,
discontinuous profile grinding is the most flexible process from
single part production up to medium and large sized batches
with a modulus range from mn < 1mm up to mn > 35 mm [6].
Fig. 5. Abrasive processes for hard gear finishing [5, 11]
Honing has gained substantial importance for two main
reasons. On the one hand, it was shown that the generated
surfaces on the gears generate a much lower running noise
compared to conventionally ground surfaces [6, 10, 14]. In
addition the process of gear honing does not need large
overtravel of the tool. It is possible to machine a running
gearing close to any other geometrical design element like, e.g.
a clutch gearing. By this it is possible to machine different gears
on one shaft, avoiding the necessity of mounting separate
machined gears after finishing.
With regard to surface integrity aspects the following
general comparison of the contact conditions of gear grinding
have to be discussed, Fig. 6.
Fig. 6. Comparison of gear grinding contact conditions
As can be seen on Fig. 6 left, discontinuous profile gear
grinding can be applied to even grind the dedendum of the gear.
However with or without this feature the length of the engaged
profile of the grinding wheel to the workpiece is extremely
large. This creates the necessity for a high quality soft
machining and heat treatment, because any distortion along the
5
3
described length might lead to locally increased material
removal rates and thus to the danger of grinding burn [13].
Furthermore especially in case of dedendum grinding the
whole width of the grinding wheel is in contact with the
workpiece which limits the access for coolant into the zone of
contact, thus further enhancing the probability of thermal
damage. As a consequence in many industrial applications
discontinuous profile grinding is done in at least two steps. First
roughing is used to remove most of the material with
sometimes locally different material allowances. If the
geometrical distortion after heat treatment is expected to be
high, either moderate grinding conditions (low feed speed, low
depth of cut) are chosen to avoid any thermal overload. Or more
productive parameters are applied in order to increase
productivity, by taking the risk of local burn into account. In
any case finish profile grinding is following to achieve the
desired surface roughness and surface integrity state.
In case of continuous generating gear grinding there are
multiple contacts of the grinding worm with the workpiece, see
Fig. 6 right. These individual lengths of engaged profile are
significantly smaller compared to profile grinding.
Furthermore there is sufficient space for applying coolant to the
contact zone. Thus in direct comparison the overall grinding
burn risk is much smaller for continuous generating gear
grinding. In the following specific research results of the above
mentioned processes for hard finishing of gears by grinding are
presented.
3.1.1 Discontinuous profile gear grinding
Many research activities have been conducted to determine
the influence of different parameters on the surface integrity
state of ground gears. In case of discontinuous profile gear
grinding the resulting residual stress profiles and full width at
half maximum (FWHM) values for rising material removal are
shown in Fig. 7. The results show that the first ground tooth
gaps show no hints of thermal overload with desired
compressive residual stresses at the surface.
Fig. 7. X-ray measurements after discontinuous gear profile grinding
6 B. Karpuschewski et al. / Procedia CIRP 87 (2020) 3–12
4 Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2019) 000–000
With increasing specific material removal V’w the residual
stress state is shifted towards low compressive stresses at the
surface and high tensile residual stresses up to 550 MPa in
subsurface areas. For V’w = 800 mm³/mm the progressing
clogging and wear of the corundum grinding wheel leads to the
shown surface integrity state with severe thermal damage due
to tensile residual stresses and reduced FWHM values
indicating structural changes and hardness loss. In this case it
is impossible to grind the whole gear (47 teeth) without
intermediate dressing. At least after half of the gear is ground
(23 teeth) a dressing operation must be applied in order to
remove clogging and wear and to offer a sharp grinding wheel
to continue the process without risk of thermal damage.
Fig. 8 shows the influence of increasing material removal
rates Q’w on the resulting gear properties [16]. As expected the
normalized spindle power is rising with higher Q’w, whereas
the residual stress state at the surface is shifted towards lower
compressive residual stresses. The increased load on the
corundum grinding wheel results in slightly better surface
roughness values. All these results are still in a fully acceptable
range. The chosen material removal rates are quite moderate,
in industrial practice local specific material removal rates Q’w
might be much higher exceeding values of 20 mm³/mms. These
high values very likely lead to local thermal overload with
resulting tensile residual stresses and structural changes
towards re-hardening layers appearing like white etching areas
(WEA) in micro-structural investigations.
Fig. 8. Influence of material removal rate on surface roughness and residual
stresses during discontinuous profile gear grinding [16]
3.1.2 Continuous generating gear grinding
The influence of continuous generating gear grinding on
surface integrity is shown in Fig. 9 [17]. In the presented case
a dressable corundum grinding worm was used. The results
show that even for this less thermally critical process it is
possible to shift the residual stress state to tensile residual
stresses at the surface, if the parameters are chosen in a
progressive way.
Fig. 9. Residual stress state after continuous generating gear grinding;
corundum grinding worm [17]
Essential influencing parameters are the number of threads,
feed and material removal rate, while the increase of the
material removal Vw does not show a significant effect. This is
due to the fact that the individual load on contact areas of the
grinding worm is substantially smaller compared to
discontinuous profile grinding wheels [18]. In addition the
grinding worm is shifted during grinding of numerous gears to
fresh tool areas along the width similar to a gear hob, which is
further reducing the load on individual grinding worm parts.
The high demand for productive cycle times in large batch
gear grinding of the automotive industry has also encouraged
to use expensive CBN grinding worms in two different
application variants. Either non-dressable electroplated single
layer worms or dressable CBN worms with a ceramic bond
have been applied. Fig. 10 shows results of continuous
generating gear grinding with a dressable CBN grinding worm.
The results reveal that the desired compressive residual stresses
at the surface of the gear flank can still be achieved even with
high feed speeds [19]. The increasing feed speed leads to
clearly reduced compressive residual stress states, while the
influence of the cutting speed vc is not that prominent, fig. 10
lower part. The higher feed speed generates also slightly
rougher surfaces, Fig. 10 upper part.
In any case it is clear that both most popular gear grinding
variants are suitable to produce high quality gears with a
sufficient surface integrity state. Still thermal damage is likely
 B. Karpuschewski et al. / Procedia CIRP 87 (2020) 3–12
Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2019) 000–000
to occur in case of uncontrolled geometrical distortion of the
gear or because of too aggressive process parameters.
Fig. 10. Residual stress state after continuous generating gear grinding [19]
3.1.3 Gear honing
The last abrasive process to be discussed here is gear honing.
The above mentioned advantages of low noise generation and
excellent accessibility to different gear geometries on shafts
have continuously increased the application of gear honing.
The process kinematics have been discussed in [5, 6].
Dressable honing rings made of corundum as well as single
layer electroplated non-dressable tools are in use.
Fig. 11 shows results of honing with single layer diamond
abrasives [10]. This is remarkable, because usually the use of
diamond tools is not suitable for any steel material due to its
carbon affinity. In this special case with significantly low
cutting speeds in the range of only 1- 8 m/s the internally geared
ring-shaped honing tool is only exposed to high mechanical
load. This load can be perfectly handled by diamond abrasives,
thus in this exceptional case diamond is the preferred abrasive
for single layer electroplated honing tools. The residual stress
state stays in a high compressive level at the surface even after
a high number of honed gears, Fig. 11 left. The residual stress
profiles show a desired behavior, the compressive stress level
at the surface as well as the penetration into the subsurface area
even rise from gear number 1 to gear number 1450, Fig. 11
right. In general the gear honing process is not arousing
suspicion to induce thermal damage to the workpiece. The low
cutting speeds in conjunction with the high mechanical load on
7
5
the tooth flank basically lead to desired compressive residual
stresses at the surface with sufficient penetration into the steel
material, no matter which tool concept (dressable corundum or
electroplated diamond) is used.
Fig. 11. Residual stress state after gear honing with diamond abrasives [10]
3.2 Finishing by cutting processes
3.2.1 Gear hobbing
Gear hobbing is the dominating technique to produce
external gears in a wide range regarding modulus, outer
diameter and helix angle for applications in automobile
industry and also for wind turbines. But all of this takes place
in the green manufacturing state of the process chain. For hard
gear finishing gear hobbing is mostly used for large ring gears
when the quality requirements (IT10-12) of grinding are not
necessary. In that case the workpiece material is mostly a
quenched and tempered steel.
As environmentally challenges increase dry hobbing is
widely used in soft machining. To unlock the ecological and
economic potential of dry finish hobbing the thermal effects
have to be considered. Compared to automobile gears the ratio
between inner and outer diameter for large ring gears (ø > 1 m)
is close to one. That is why thermal effects become more
important.
Beutner has investigated the thermal impact of gear hobbing
in detail [20, 21]. In an industrial application of his approach
the temperature input into large ring gears (ø = 3.1 m) was
measured by several resistance thermometers. The setup is
shown in Fig. 12.
The sensors of type PT 100 SMD 1206 were applied on a
carbon carrier protected by thermal grease and a brass capsule.
To get information in different dimensions the setup was
chosen along the width of the gear, along the axial pitch and in
the direction of the cutting depth. By the assumption of a
rotational symmetry the sensors where spread on different
teeth, compare Fig. 12 upper left. The experiments were
conducted using an indexable insert hob (cemented carbide).
To cut the gap accurately between the relative position of the
hob and the sensors the workpiece positioning was crucial. It
was realized by an angular adjustment of the workpiece before
cutting. For large ring gears with a large modulus, a two-step
8 B. Karpuschewski et al. / Procedia CIRP 87 (2020) 3–12
6 Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2019) 000–000
cutting strategy was used to decrease the load of the tool. The
chosen cutting parameters and the gear geometry are shown in
the table of Fig. 12.
Fig. 12. Experimental setup for large ring gear finish hobbing [20, 21]
The main focus of the experiment was the comparison of dry
and wet hobbing using water-based emulsion as coolant. For
both experiments the temperature curves are close together
which means that both gears were heated up homogenously,
see Fig. 13. Starting with the first cut it is obvious that the heat
capacity of the emulsion (90% water) reduces the workpiece
temperature significantly. Comparing the peak workpiece
temperature of the first cut the gear temperature is close to
double (28°C to 51°C). Because the workpiece has an increased
temperature level for the second cut the temperature gap is even
higher (28°C to 44°C). The actively chilled coolant inhibits the
heat dissipation into workpiece, that way the gear temperature
between first and second cut is nearly the same.
Fig. 13. Comparing the temperature curve of dry hobbing and hobbing
with coolant [20, 21]
After hobbing the gear geometry was measured. Surface
roughness always stayed in requested tolerances. All of the
gearing parameters are in the quality range of IT12. Only the
circularity was increased and out of quality range. The initial
circularity after turning was 80 µm for both rings. For wet
hobbing it increases to 105 µm and for dry hobbing to 178 µm.
All other geometry values and gearing parameters are within
the quality range. Additionally, no tendencies are obvious and
moreover the higher workpiece temperature (ΔT = 35°C) seems
not affecting the geometry. There were no further
investigations to analyze the residual stress state, because it
would have been necessary to destroy the large gears to cut out
single teeth for X-ray diffraction analysis. Knowing that this
was just a single industry test, it seems that dry finish hobbing
is possible for the demanded application.
3.2.2 Profile milling
Another manufacturing technique which is used for ring
gears is profile milling. As it is for gear hobbing profile milling
is widely used for green manufacturing. Compared to hobbing
profile milling is also capable to manufacture internal gears.
For high loaded applications such as tunnel driving
machines and ball bearings the gear has been heat treated to
ensure the performance. But because of the heat treatment the
geometry of the gear is distorted and a hard finish process step
is necessary.
Fig. 14. Single tooth gap finish profile milling of hardened gears [22, 23]
An investigation was done on an internal ring gear
(AISI4140) with a modulus of 14 mm and, outer diameter of
2500 mm and 162 teeth. After soft machining the ring gear an
induction heating was applied to get a surface hardness of 56
to 58 HRC. After hardening a profile cutter with tungsten
cemented carbide indexable inserts was used, Fig. 14 upper
right. With up-cut milling all tooth gaps were manufactured.
 B. Karpuschewski et al. / Procedia CIRP 87 (2020) 3–12 9
Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2019) 000–000 7

Without changing the inserts, the wear is increased with every with 200 m/min. The result for PCBN with vc = 200 m/min is
cut gap. The width of the flank wear was measured every 40 very similar to those of cemented carbide. The shape of the
gaps (geared length of 8 m). The wear increases right from the curves for the initial state are very similar, starting with lower
beginning up to 100 µm and then kept constant for about 60 m. compressive stresses at the very top layer (-200 MPa and -350
After that it increases again and reaches the maximum flank MPa).
wear of 200 µm at 83 m. More details of the wear experiment
are to be found in [22, 23].
During the test, residual stress depth profiles were done by
cutting out single teeth, which showed high local maxima in
Barkhausen noise testing. The measurements were carried out
with a mobile X-ray diffractometer Stresstech Xstress 3000
with a goniometer G3.
It is obvious that the residual stress changes with increasing
wear of the inserts, Fig. 14 lower part. For the initial state of
the insert the residual stresses in 0° and 90° orientation of the
cutting direction compressive stresses result at the outer surface
layer (-710 MPa to -380 MPa respectively). After a depth of 50
µm the residual stresses reach a steady state which seems not
to be affected by the milling process. The tensile stresses of
about 100 MPa for the 90° direction is probably caused by the
rolling process of the ring. Cutting with the worn inserts the Fig. 15. Experimental setup for two flanked analogy test for hard skive
hobbing
residual stresses of the outer surface layer for 0° increase
significantly from -710 to 50 MPa. For 90° it is nearly the same.
However, the level of the tensile stresses is very low and can After that the stresses decrease to the local minimum in a
be considered as uncritical. It can be seen that coated ultrafine depth of 20 µm with -450 MPa for cemented carbide and -810
grained tungsten carbide inserts are able to perform dry profile MPa for PCBN. After worn out of the cutting insert the
milling of hardened large gears and may promote the function- resulting residual stresses look very similar with still
oriented characteristic of compressive residual stresses [24]. compressive stresses of about -300 MPa. The shape of the
curve differs to the initial state and the cutting speed influence
3.2.3 Skive hobbing is not present anymore.

For small companies with small batch production a separate

gear grinding machine can be too expensive. For that case skive
hobbing is a possibility to produce hard finished gears on a
single machine tool. As a first step gear hobbing as soft
machining is applied followed by case-hardening. After that the
same gear hobbing machine tool can be used. On the side of the
hob the rake angle changes from 0° to -20°. Because of the
hardened surface layer of about 58 HRC tungsten cemented
carbide is widely used as tool material. To decrease thermal
effects and the wear of the hob cutting oil is mostly used.
Additionally, the cutting parameters are very moderate. Due to
its superior properties polycrystalline boron nitride PCBN is
another opportunity for this application. In cutting industry, it
is already widely used for turning applications.
Using PCBN the cutting speed can be increased and it is
possible to work without lubricant. By increasing the cutting
speed, the cutting temperature increases as well. Thus the
influence of the adapted process on the surface integrity of the
gear has to be examined. For the first time a two flanked
analogy test for hard skive hobbing was applied using a full
face PCBN insert, see Fig.15. With a depth of cut ae of 100 µm Fig. 16. Residual stresses after skive hobbing in two flanked analogy test
the case-hardened gear was manufactured.
After reaching the maximum flank wear of 50 µm the 3.2.4. Hard skiving
cutting test was stopped. From the first and last cut gear a tooth
was separated and examined by X-ray diffraction as shown in Recently gear skiving has gained fast rising interest as
Fig. 16. For this investigation the results of cemented carbide potential soft machining process for internal and external
with a cutting speed of vc = 200 m/min and PCBN with vc = 400 gearing [25, 26]. The biggest potential is seen in the fact, that
m/min were compared. It seems that a higher cutting speed is besides dedicated machine tools this technology can also be
able to induce more compressive residual stresses than cutting applied on modern machining centers as long as they can
10 B. Karpuschewski et al. / Procedia CIRP 87 (2020) 3–12
8 Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2019) 000–000

provide the necessary kinematics and spindle performances. stresses are present directly on the surface, very low residual
Mandatory to apply this technology is an adapted software stresses form in the immediate subsurface zone of the
package for skiving. While soft skiving is already introduced downwardly (↓) machined gears, which are approximately at
in industry the potential of hard skiving is not yet explored. the same level as the ground test series.
First attempts are being made to identify suitable process
parameters and cutting tool materials to apply this fast process
also to hardened gears [27]. Specific results on surface integrity
aspects on hardened gears are not yet published. Only first
results for soft gears with a surface hardness of 30 HRC
machined by skiving have been reported in [28].

4. Introducing compressive residual stresses by rolling

While all the above-mentioned processes are used for

material removal on gear flanks there is also an option to induce
desired compressive residual stresses by different methods
without material removal. Shot peening was already addressed
in the paper, see Fig. 2 and [12], but there is another upcoming
interesting process to be applied on gear flanks based on rollers
[29]. Compared to shot peening, this finishing process offers
the essential advantage of a greater depth effect of the
hardening mechanisms, which usually results in higher load
tolerances. By means of a newly developed inline-deep rolling
tool, these positive impacts can also be made available for gear
manufacturing, Fig. 17. It illustrates the schematic design and
the predicted mode of action of the developed tool. Individual
rollers arranged one behind the other are mounted “in line” on
a roller holder. By means of different roller widths, which are
matched to each other according to the tooth root envelope
curve, a suitable overlapping of the rolling paths in the tooth
root can be achieved by horizontal moving. As the rollers carry
out the rolling process on both sides, the complete machining
of a tooth space is done with only one passage of the inline tool.
In order to increase efficiency and to maintain the cycle times
specified by the grinding process, several gears can be clamped
one after the other.
Fig. 18. Residual stress profiles of inline-deep rolled spur gears [29]
Only at greater material depths the measured values increase
again. Thereby a dependence on the deep rolling pressure is
clearly discernible. The deep rolling force also has an immense
influence on the upwardly (↑) produced specimens, but over
the entire value range, so that even in the p = 150 bar tests,
maximum residual compressive stress values of approximately
-2.500 MPa can be recorded on the surface. The presented
results are gained on spur gears. By adapting the deep rolling
tools and the gear holder, it is also possible to transfer the
process to helical gearing. Further investigations on functional
behavior have to show, which of these stress profiles lead to the
best life time performance of the gears. The potential to
drastically improve the compressive residual stress level at the
surface and in subsurface areas is evident.

5. Monitoring of gear surface integrity conditions

Many laboratory reference methods are in use to analyze the

surface integrity state of machined workpieces like nital
etching, hardness testing, metallographic inspection or X-ray
diffraction metrology [30, 31]. The most promising method to
be applied as non-destructive process monitoring technique is
Barkhausen noise (BN) measurement. The principle of this
Fig. 17. Inline-deep rolling of gears [29]
method is based on Bloch wall motions in ferromagnetic
materials initiated by alternating magnetization of the material
Fig. 18 compares the measured residual stress depth profiles
[30, 32]. It has been widely applied for grinding burn detection,
of the different finishing states in the tooth root, detected by
but can also be used for surface integrity check after hard
means of a X-ray diffractometer Xstress 3000 made by
milling [22, 23], see section 3.2.2. Fig. 19 shows results of an
Stresstech GmbH. All investigated methods generate residual
industrial use of robot based automatic inspection of
compressive stresses. While shot peening produces a
discontinuous profile ground gears with a Barkhausen noise
characteristic curve known from literature with a maximum
system [33]. The gears were ground in a regular two-step
value of about -850 MPa at a depth of 100 µm, there are
approach, first roughing for large material removal followed by
interesting differences in the deep rolled specimens depending
finishing to generate the desired surface roughness and stress
on the machining direction. While in the case of the upwardly
state. It must be mentioned that the roughing parameters were
deep rolled (↑) variants the maximum residual compressive
 B. Karpuschewski et al. / Procedia CIRP 87 (2020) 3–12
Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2019) 000–000
partly chosen beyond industrial values to provoke grinding
burn. The results reveal the sensitivity of the method to detect
thermal damage on gears fast and reliable. For calibration and
interpretation of the BN-results, Fig 19 upper part, two
reference methods have been applied as well, namely nital
etching and X-ray diffraction for residual stress analysis, Fig.
19 lower part.
Fig. 19. Gear grinding process monitoring with Barkhausen noise [33]
Rising material removal rates Qw generate higher thermal
load on the tooth flanks. This is clearly reflected by higher BN-
amplitudes and confirmed by visible surface color changes
during nital etching and rising tensile residual stresses in
subsurface areas. It is important to notice that these tensile
residual stresses only occur in depths larger than 20 µm,
directly on the surface the residual stress state remains
compressive due to the moderate finishing conditions. Based
on the measurement parameters, namely magnetization
frequency and amplitude, the BN-methods allows relevant
subsurface inspection, which is not available with only surface
X-ray residual stress measurement.
In future, the authors attempt to apply a sensor system for
Barkhausen noise in a grinding machine tool with the aim of
in-process monitoring during grinding with coolant supply.
The concept includes considerations to use a wear protection
layer on the sensor to reduce wear and to also test a
measurement variant of the Barkhausen noise without direct
sensor contact, with a thin air gap. First unpublished results
already reveal the high potential of this concept.
6. Conclusion
In the presented paper results of surface integrity
investigations on gears were discussed. Gears belong to the
highest loaded machine elements and are thus subject to severe
quality control. Many cutting and grinding processes are
11
9
suitable to generate sufficient surface integrity states, namely
compressive residual stresses at the surface and in subsurface
areas. In a direct comparison of finishing alternatives by
abrasive processes, greatest care must be taken for
discontinuous profile gear grinding. Here the complex contact
conditions are most suitable to generate undesired grinding
burn. For continuous generating gear grinding and gear honing
the danger of thermal damage is clearly reduced. This is based
on better coolant accessibility, smaller grinding tool -
workpiece contact areas for generating grinding and much
smaller cutting speeds and thus thermal load for honing.
For hard finish cutting processes some variants like profile
milling and skive hobbing are already applied in industry. The
demands on macro geometry of the cut gears are usually lower
compared to ground gears, because these machined gears have
most often larger dimensions. They are not used for permanent
high speed and high load rotation but more for lower rotational
speeds like in tunnel boring machines or for positioning
purposes like crane tower rotation or nacelle orientation of
wind power plants. But hard skive hobbing and hard skiving
will have the potential to compete with grinding processes in
smaller gear dimensions. For all cutting processes the resulting
residual stress state on the gear surface is strongly influenced
by tool wear.
If a specific high compressive residual stress state must be
guaranteed on the gear, additional processes like shot peening
or rolling are usually applied. While shot peening is well-
established already, deep rolling offers additional benefits like
larger penetration depths, but needs to be further explored
before industrial acceptance.
In any case adapted inspection methods are needed to ensure
the desired surface integrity state and thus guarantee the desired
performance. While reference methods like nital etching and
X-ray diffraction will remain important for e.g. calibration, the
need for fast and process near methods is continuously rising.
The most promising technique for ferromagnetic materials like
hardened steels is based on Barkhausen noise measurement.
While robot-based post-process systems are already used, the
potential for in-process measurement in grinding machines is
currently investigated.
In conclusion gears will remain important machine elements
because of their unbeaten ability to convert torque, speed and
direction of rotating elements in any kind of transmission.
While some established application areas like gear boxes for
combustion engines might shrink, there will be new options for
electrical concepts (e.g. much higher rotational speed, lower
demanded noise level) or any kinds of high loaded turbines
(e.g. geared turbofan).
Acknowledgements
The scientific work presented here has been supported by
the German Research Council (DFG) within the research
priority programs SPP1480 and SPP2086 and the collaborative
research center SFB TRR136. The authors thank the DFG for
this funding and intensive technical support.
12 B. Karpuschewski et al. / Procedia CIRP 87 (2020) 3–12
10 Author name / Procedia CIRP 00 (2019) 000–000
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