Design and materials selection for power-
transmitting gears
Abstract - The g r e a t m a j o r i t y of a l l p o w e r gears are m a n u f a c t u r e d in h a r d e n e d o r case-carburized s t e e l with a
s m a l l e r n u m b e r m a n u f a c t u r e d from cast iron and from n o n - m e t a l l i c m a t e r i a l s such as thermoplastics a n d
l a m i n a t e d b o n d e d wood, fabric and p a p e r materials. The choice of m a t e r i a l depends on the p o w e r to be
transmitted a n d the r u n n i n g speed. F o l l o w i n g an introduction to the p r i n c i p l e s of g e a r design, the selection of
a p p r o p r i a t e g e a r m a t e r i a l s - their fatigue strength a n d p e r m i s s i b l e stress levels - is discussed.
In gear design the objective is to define a gearbox which can
be manufactured at minimum cost, which will transmit the
design torque (or power) at the design speed, at a specified
ratio, and will have appropriate reliability during the life of
the transmission system. Constraints may be imposed on the
design by space, weight or cost limitations, and by available
manufacturing facilities.
To design reliable gearboxes which will not fail, the poss-
ible failure modes must be understood. Gearboxes can
break or stop working due to failures of the gears, or other
components, that is:
Shaft seals (leakage, ingress of dirt)
Bearings (wear, breakage, seizure)
Lubrication (loss of lubricant, entrainment of dirt)
Shafts (bending fatigue failure, particularly at keyways and
splines, fretting at bearing seats, wear under seals).
In many types of machinery the most common gearbox
failures are bearing failures resulting from ingress of dirt
due to seal failure. In dirty environments, inadequate gear-
case breathers can lead to severe dirt contamination of the
lubricating oil, and resulting bearing and gear failure. Inade-
quate gearcase design, without oil-weirs to channel oil to
bearings, or without oil drainage holes from the closed end
of bearing housings, can lead to bearing-oil starvation or
overheating and seal failures.
Poor assembly, especially too much play or excessive pre-
load in bearings, can lead to rapid bearing failure. In
extreme cases, excessive bearing pre-load can result in
rolling element bearings overheating sufficiently to weld up.
Shaft breakage, both inside and outside the gearcase, due
to sharp shoulders, keyways and other stress raisers can
cause more gearbox downtime than breakages of the gear
elements themselves. Attention to detail, and following
proper design rules, are important to avoiding lubrication,
bearing and shaft failure, and can often contribute more to
achieving high gearbox reliability than improving the design
of the gear elements.
The gears themselves can fail in service primarily in any
of three ways:
• Tooth breakage, that is, the breaking of part of (or a
whole) tooth, under operating conditions when the bend-
ing stress exceeds the fracture strength or the bending
fatigue strength of the gear material.
• Surface failure, that is, pitting or sub-surface cracking,
when the contact stress exceeds the fatigue strength or
the crushing strength of the gear material. (Surface pit-
ting can initiate tooth bending fatigue failure.)
• Scuffing, scoring or abrasive wear, caused by oil film
failure, inadequate lubrication or dirt contamination.
In this article the design of spur and helical gears is
discussed in relation to tooth breakage and surface failure.
Scuffing occurs primarily in high-speed, high-power gearing,
but is of less significance in normal industrial gearing. Vari-
ous scuffing criteria have been proposed but the accuracy
and validity of the procedures is limited. Abrasive wear
occurs primarily in low-speed gears, where the theoretical
oil film thickness is less than 0.1 ~m (i.e. peripheral velocity
230
less than 0.5 m/s). Abrasive wear can be reduced by increas-
ing the oil film thickness, that is, by increasing the viscosity
of the oil at working temperature. If wear cannot be avoided,
wear rate can be calculated.
The procedure and the stress analysis outlined should
result in an adequate gear design. The approximate analysis
proposed is based on the current gear standards BS 436:
1986 and DIN 3990: 1987. However, an adequate design does
not guarantee good performance. Gear failures can still
occur due to sub-standard material, inaccurate manufacture
and inadequate heat treatment.
The design of gears follows a normal design route, with
the following steps:
(1) The duty for the gearbox is specified, and corresponding
design life and reliability estimated, from which the equi-
valent design load and appropriate safety factors are
determined.
(2) The most appropriate material for the gears is selected
from a range of steels and non-metallic materials, and
permissible stress levels established.
(3) The type of gear is selected (spur or helical) and basic
design decisions taken on ratio split, facewidth ratio and
gear-manufacturing route and accuracy.
(4) The gears are roughly sized using a simplified, non-
iterative calculation for pinion diameter and module.
(5) Once the gear size is known, a more accurate stress
analysis is applied to refine the design.
Specification, design life, reliability
Before a design or a stress analysis can be carried out a
realistic specification for the gear pair must be established.
In some cases this may be easy - a gearbox used to drive a
centrifugal pump running at a a known flow rate and pres-
sure is subjected to a well-defined torque. In other cases (for
example, in the drive to a stone crusher or a tunnelling
machine) the gearbox will be subjected to high dynamic
forces which are difficult to determine.
The gear specification must, at a minimum, include:
• The nominal design torque or power (T or P) and the
application,
or
• The torque-time characteristic, or load histogram, for the
drive
and
• Input speed, n (rpm)
• The transmission ratio, i
• The design life in hours or shaft revolutions
• The required reliability
In addition, one or more of the following may be specified:
• Centre distance or overall gearbox size or weight
• Pinion and wheel material and heat treatment
• Manufacturing route and associated accuracy
• Safety factors
• Application factor
The gear ratio is governed by the characteristics of the
prime mover (engine or motor) and the needs of the driven
MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 13 No. 4 1992
 Technical report

Table 1 Applicationfactor KA

Examples of driven machines with different working characteristics Application factor KA

for different prime movers

Electric Multi- Single-

Driven machines Character motor cylinder cylinder
turbine engine engine

Generators, uniformly loaded belt or platform conveyors, worm conveyors, light elevators, packag Uniform 105 125 15
ing machines, feed gears for machine tools, ventilators, light centrifuges, centrifugal pumps, mixers
for light fluids or constant-density materials.

Non-uniformly loaded belts or platform conveyors, main drives of machine tools, heavy elevators, Moderate 13 15 1.75
turning gears of cranes, industrial and mine ventilators, heavy centrifuges, centrifugal pumps, shock
mixers for high-viscosity or variable-density materials, multi-cylinder piston pumps, feed pumps,
extruders (general), calenders, rotary furnaces, rolling mills (continuous zinc strip, aluminium strip
as well as wire and bar rolling mills).

Extruders for rubber mixers with interrupted operation for rubber and plastics, ball mills(light), Mediumshock 1.5 I 75 2.00
wood working (mills, saws, lathes), billet rolling mills, lifting gear single cylinder piston pumps

Excavators (bucket wheel gears, multi-bucket gears, sieve gears, power shovels), ball mills (heavy), Heavyshock 18 200 2.25
rubber dough mills breaker (stone ore) metallurgical machines, heavy feed pumps, rotary drilling
apparatus, brick-moulding presses, braking drums, peehng machines, cold strip-rolling mills, bri-
quette presses.

m a c h i n e r y . The d e s i g n life and r e l i a b i l i t y s h o u l d be specified based on a m e a s u r e d or c a l c u l a t e d t o r q u e - t i m e c h a r a c t e r i s -

by the user of the g e a r b o x , but, in practice, must often be
e s t i m a t e d by the g e a r e n g i n e e r .
D e s i g n life will v a r y f r o m a f e w h o u r s for l o w - r a t i o g e a r s in
a u t o m o t i v e g e a r b o x e s to 2000 or 3000 h o u r s for s o m e m o b i l e
e q u i p m e n t , to 100 000 h o u r s for p r o c e s s plant run 24 hours
per day. For c a l c u l a t i o n p u r p o s e s , d e s i g n life is e x p r e s s e d
as NL in n u m b e r of p i n i o n shaft r e v o l u t i o n s .
The r e l i a b i l i t y r e q u i r e d from a g e a r b o x will d e p e n d upon
the c o n s e q u e n c e s of failure. In n o r m a l industrial drives, a
g e a r r e l i a b i l i t y s i m i l a r to the r e l i a b i l i t y e x p e c t e d in r o l l i n g
e l e m e n t b e a r i n g d e s i g n m a y be a p p r o p r i a t e , w h e r e a/310 life
is g e n e r a l y used, i.e. a 10% p r o b a b i l i t y of f a i l u r e within the
d e s i g n life. For critical p r o c e s s plant, w h e r e d o w n t i m e is
v e r y e x p e n s i v e , or in d r i v e s w h e r e the c o n s e q u e n c e s of
f a i l u r e c o u l d be c a t a s t r o p h i c , such as the f a i l u r e of a heli-
c o p t e r r o t o r g e a r b o x , a much h i g h e r r e l i a b i l i t y must be
sought, and a p r o b a b i l i t y of f a i l u r e of 1 in 103 to 1 in 105 in the
d e s i g n life is a p p r o p r i a t e .
Design load
The d e s i g n load or e q u i v a l e n t t o r q u e must be d e t e r m i n e d as
a c c u r a t e l y as p o s s i b l e to a v o i d o v e r - or u n d e r - d e s i g n . The
loads to w h i c h the g e a r i n g is s u b j e c t e d a r e a function of the
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of both the d r i v i n g and d r i v e n m a c h i n e r y . In
all but the s i m p l e s t cases, the t r a n s m i t t e d t o r q u e s s h o u l d be
a c c u r a t e l y c a l c u l a t e d or m e a s u r e d and an e q u i v a l e n t t o r q u e
c a l c u l a t e d . When this is not possible, an a p p l i c a t i o n factor,
KA, can be used as an a p p r o x i m a t e w a y of a c c o u n t i n g for
d y n a m i c o v e r l o a d s in a p a r t i c u l a r type of g e a r d r i v e .
The t o r q u e b e i n g t r a n s m i t t e d by a g e a r b o x m a y be g r e a t e r
or s m a l l e r than the n o m i n a l p o w e r of the d r i v i n g m o t o r or
e n g i n e . If it can be a s s u m e d that the m o t o r has b e e n cor-
rectly sized to s u p p l y the m e a n p o w e r r e q u i r e d by the d r i v e n
m a c h i n e , the effect of d y n a m i c o v e r l o a d can be a l l o w e d for
by an a p p l i c a t i o n factor, KA, a p p r o p r i a t e to the type of p r i m e
m o v e r and the class of d r i v e n m a c h i n e . KA for typical p r i m e
m o v e r s and a r a n g e of d r i v e n m a c h i n e s is s h o w n in T a b l e 1.
Using an a p p r o p r i a t e v a l u e of KA, the d e s i g n t o r q u e To is:
To= To.G
w h e r e 7-, is the n o m i n a l m o t o r torque. It s h o u l d be noted that
the a p p l i c a t i o n factor KA also m a k e s a l l o w a n c e for the typical
o p e r a t i o n of the m a c h i n e , that is, the n u m b e r of starts per
h o u r and the utilization of the m a c h i n e .
H o w e v e r , to repeat, the e q u i v a l e n t d e s i g n load is best
tic, w h i c h takes a c c o u n t of all o p e r a t i n g c o n d i t i o n s , a c c e l e -
ration, v a r i a b l e s p e e d running, braking, and the s y s t e m iner-
tias. When the d y n a m i c load characteristic, as s h o w n in Fig.
l(a), has b e e n d e t e r m i n e d , this can be r e d u c e d to a load
h i s t o g r a m by c a l c u l a t i n g the t i m e s p e n t at each t o r q u e level
?'1, 7-2 ..... T, and r u n n i n g speed, n, and s u m m i n g this for the
life of the g e a r b o x .
To a l l o w for different r u n n i n g speeds, the load h i s t o g r a m
is best b a s e d on the total n u m b e r of p i n i o n r e v o l u t i o n s (AM,
AN2 ..... AN~ at each load level 7-1, 7-2. . . . . T, for the d e s i g n life
of the g e a r b o x , as s h o w n in Fig. l(b). The e q u i v a l e n t d e s i g n
torque, TD, for a v a r i a b l e - t o r q u e d r i v e as in Fig. 1 can be
c a l c u l a t e d using the l i n e a r c u m u l a t i v e d a m a g e h y p o t h e s i s of
P a l m g r e n and Miner. For a s e r i e s of t o r q u e levels, L, 7-2. . . . .
T~, o c c u r r i n g for load cycles A M , AN~ ..... AN~, the d e s i g n
t o r q u e To for a d e s i g n life ND < N, is g i v e n by
TD = [AN~T~q+ AN2T2q+ ...ANff?]4
No (1)
w h e r e q is the s l o p e of the l o a d - l i f e curve.* C u m u l a t i v e
d a m a g e t h e o r y a s s u m e s that t h e r e is no f a t i g u e d a m a g e at
stresses b e l o w the e n d u r a n c e limit (occurring at N~) so that
in the c a l c u l a t i o n of TD, a p p l i e d t o r q u e s at a level l o w e r than
7", must not be c o n s i d e r e d in the calculation. S i m i l a r l y , for a
total d e s i g n life g r e a t e r than N~, N~ must be in place of ND in
e q u a t i o n (1).
Fig. 2 s h o w s the typical l o a d - l i f e c u r v e s for b e n d i n g f a i l u r e
and surface f a i l u r e for w r o u g h t g e a r steels, through-, sur-
face- or c a s e - h a r d e n e d . It s h o u l d be noted that the n o m i n a l
fatigue limit for surface strength (pitting) is 5.107 to 109 load
cycles, w h i l e that for b e n d i n g strength is o n l y 3.106 . The
v a l u e s of No, N, and q f o r different g e a r m a t e r i a l s are g i v e n
in T a b l e 2.
6ear reliabilily
The r e l i a b i l i t y of a g e a r b o x must be seen in the c o n t e x t of the
r e l i a b i l i t y of the w h o l e d r i v e s y s t e m or plant, and the impli-
cation of g e a r f a i l u r e a s s e s s e d in r e l a t i o n to total plant relia-
bility and total cost. For e x a m p l e , if the g e a r b o x in a l a r g e
plant accounts for o n l y a s m a l l p r o p o r t i o n of total capital
*For root bending stress, the slope of the S - N curve q* is
identical to that of the load-life curve q. For contact stress,
however, q* = 2q.

MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 13 No. 4 1992 231

Technical report

TO

T1

%
%
r4
#_ T5

%
T7

T8
Time
a
%

T: . . . . . . .
>

F
o
I--
T5 . . . . . .
L L
T6 . . . . . .

T7

AN 2_ - AN3 _,_ AN 4 -_ AN5 AN

AN1 i, I -
~_22_o
Load cycles (revolutions - NL}
b
Fig 1 (a) Load-time characteristic; (b) load histogram

300,
E marginal increase in gear reliability, t h i s may not be justi-
24O fied.
c Few data are available on the reliability of industrial gear
2OO drives, and the target reliabilities which should be assumed
"0 180 at the design stage. The design reliability will depend on:
160
\\ ~, %.
• The target reliability of the whole system;
"0 140 ~ \ \ \'\ ".,.
\ "\ ",. • The attainable reliabilty for shafts, bearings, seals and
120 other parts of the gearbox;
• The consequences of failure - both in financial terms and
~oo in relation to safety (e.g. potential risk to life and limb);
-o 90 I • The reliability of competing products.
-~ ao I
As a rough guideline, gears for mobile plant and non-critical
~ 70 (N I) * industrial drives should have a reliability of 90-95% within
( Nl°)* I I I I I I I
u. their lifetime. Critical plant, where the consequences of gear
102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 1010
failure are expensive, should be designed with a reliability of
Load cycles, N L 95-99%, while plant which is safety-critical should have a
reliability better than 99.9%. Gearing where failures are
Fig 2 Idealized load-life curves. (a) Case-carburized steel, bend- potentially fatal should be designed for even greater reliabi-
ing failure; (b) direct-hardening steels (including induction lity.
hardening), bending failure; (c) direct- and case-hardening
steel, contact failure - no pitting; (d) direct- and case-
hardening steel, contact failure - some pitting. *No and N~ The relationship between stress, strength and reliability
for (a) The fatigue strength of a gear depends on the gear material
and heat treatment, and on the manufacturing process, par-
ticularly the surface finish and the residual stresses induced
cost, yet a gear failure can result in an expensive shutdown, by grinding, shot peening or other surface treatments. There
then an increase in gear cost to improve reliability would be will be variability of fatigue strength due to variations in
justified. If, on the other hand, the gearbox represents a very material composition, he~t treatment and finishing, the mag-
large proportion of the total cost - as, for example, in a nitude of this variability depending on the quality control
tractor - and considerable cost would be incurred for a exercised in producing the steel and forgings and in the

232 MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 13 No. 4 1992

 Technical report

Table 2 Index q for load

Gear steel and heat treatment Bending failure Surface failure

No pitting Some pitting

No N~ q No' N,' q' No" N~ " q"

T h r o - H a r d w r o u g h t steel, CI perlitic and bainitic, 10 4 3.10 6 6.2 2 105 5107 6.6 6.10 5 1()~ 7.9
ductile iron

Induction and flame hardened steel 104 3.106 6.22 10 s 5.107 6.6 6.105 109 7.9

Case-carburized steel 10 3 3.10 6 8.7 105 5.107 66 610~ 109 7.9

Gas and plasma nitrided nltridingsteeI, C l a n d d u c - 103 3,106 17.0 10~ 210G 57
tile iron, ferritic

Alloy steels bath and nitro carburized 103 3.106 84.0 105 2106 15.7

Max. strength exceeds the strength. For a low-accuracy gear, with low-
'Max.' probable stress quality heat treatment, the probabihty of failure is related to
99% confidence limit the area of overlap W.
Min. stress
strength It should be noted that for any size of gear there is a
minimum theoretical stress which will be attained with geo-
Frequency metrically perfect gears, perfectly aligned. The mean stress
will then vary with the accuracy of the gears, the lower the
gear accuracy, the higher the mean stress. Similarly, there
will be a maximum attainable strength, and the mean
strength will decrease with decreasing material quality and
heat treatment.
If the stress and strength distribution were known, the
factor of safety, that is, the ratio of strength to stress, should
ideally be calculated on the basis of m e a n strength and
stress. In BS 436 and ISO-DIN 3990 the calculation procedure
is based on calculating a maximum probable stress, while
the fatigue strength data are given for 1% probability of
failure. The stress and strength as calculated to these
i/! standards is indicated in Fig. 3 for curves II and IV. For the
example shown, the 'worst' stress distribution (curve II)
results in a maximum probable stress which is greater than
Stress Strength
the 99% confidence limit for the material strength. That is,
Fig 3 Distribution of stress and strength. I Stress, high-accuracy for strength and stress distributions II and IV, and the prob-
gear, II stress, low-accuracy gear, III strength, high-quality ability of failure represented by the shaded area W, the factor
heat treatment, IV strength, low-quality heat treatment of safety as defined in BS 436 and ISO-DIN 3990, where

subsequent manufacture and heat treatment. There is thus

no unique value of fatigue strength, only a probability that the
fatigue strength will not fall beneath a given value.
The stress induced in a particular gear in a particular
application will depend on the way the load is distributed
between the flanks of mating gear teeth, that is, on the
profile, pitch and lead variations of the gears, and the mis-
alignment between them. The s m a l l e r the variation in manu-
facturing tolerances and mounting (that is, the more accur-
ate the gear), the smaller will be the variation in stress.
By definition, failure cannot occur if the fatigue strength is
greater than the fatigue stress. When, however, there is a
range of possible strengths and stresses, the probability of
failure depends on the statistical distribution of stress and
strength. This is d i a g r a m m a t i c a l l y illustrated in Fig. 3, show-
ing the probability distribution of stress and strength for a
particular gear application, for high- and low-accuracy
gears, and high- and low-quality heat treatment.
In Fig. 3 it is seen that for the high-accuracy gear (curve I)
the stress hardly exceeds the strength of the high-quality
steel with high-quality heat treatment (curve III). There is
thus a very low probability of failure. As gear accuracy and
material quality are lowered (for example, to the stress and
strength distribution represented by curves II and IV) there is
an increasing number of occurrences where the stress
SF, SH = Fatigue strength to standard
Fatigue stress to standard
would be SH, & < 1.0.
While academic purists may baulk at the concept of a
safety factor less than unity, the adopted procedure is con-
ceptually sound and the best which can be used while the
stress and strength distributions are not known, and while
the factor of safety is still largely a 'factor of ignorance'.
Safety factors for b e n d i n g stress SF a n d surface stress SH
The required reliability, in terms of percentage probability of
survival or failure within the design life at design loads,
should be defined in the specification or selected as indi-
cated above. The material fatigue strength is given in Table 3
for 99% survival. If the fatigue stress were known with absol-
ute certainty, then, when the fatigue stress is equal to the
fatigue strength (at 99% survival) the probability of failure
should be only 1%. As discussed above, the actual stressing
depends not only on the applied load but also on the particu-
lar tolerances of manufacture and alignment of a particular
gear pair.
The factors of safety necessary to achieve a design reliabi-
lity allowing for the uncertainty in stress, the uncertainty

MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 13 No. 4 1992 233

Technical report
1.7
1.6
1.5
1.4
1.3
-r"
1.2
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.01 0.1
Probability of failure (~o)
Fig 4 Approximate relationship between probability of failure and SH and S~
associated with the applied load and the uncertainty in
material strengths are not accurately known. Since the
'spread' of fatigue strength, the 'spread' of component toler-
ances and the uncertainty associated with the loading can
vary widely, there is no simple relationship between factors
of safety and gear reliability.
Fig. 4 indicates the ranges of factors of safety for bending
stress, SF, and surface stress, SH, for varying probabilities of
failure. S~ is the ratio of permissible bending stress (~FPto the
actual bending stress, CrF, i.e.
SF = (3"Fp/(~" F
SF is the ratio of permissible contact stress ~HP to the actual
contact stress cr,, i.e.
SH = ~=Hpl~* H
When the duty cycles and drive system dynamic loads are
only estimated, a larger factor of safety is required to
achieve a particular reliability than when the load spectrum
is known accurately from measurement. Conversely,
improving gear accuracy (a s m a l l e r spread of tolerances
and hence a smaller range of stresses) and improving qua-
lity control for heat treatment and metallurgy, a l l o w the
factor of safety to be reduced.
Selection of g e a r material
Gears can be manufactured from virtually any material. His-
torically, instrument gears had steel pinions and brass
wheels, while gears for transmitting power (water mills,
engines, etc.) started off being made from wood, then iron
and wood, later steel and then surface-hardened and case-
carburized steel.
This article is concerned with the design and stress analy-
sis of power-transmitting gears. The great majority of all
p o w e r gears are manufactured in hardened or case-carbur-
ized steel, with a smaller number manufactured from cast
iron and from non-metallic materials such as thermoplastics
and laminated bonded wood, fabric and paper materials. The
choice of material will depend on the power to be transmitted
and the running speed. Non-metallic gears are used primar-
ily when powers and speeds are low, especially when lubri-
234
3.0
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2.0
LL
U%
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
1 10 50
cation is a problem, or noise levels must be reduced. The
selection of appropriate gear materials, and their fatigue
strengths and permissible stress levels are discussed in the
following sections.
Steel gears
The majority of gears are manufactured from forged steel
blanks or rolled steel stock and fewer from cast steel and
cast iron. The choice of gear steel and heat treatment
depends on the proposed manufacturing route. The highest
bending and surface fatigue strength is achieved with sur-
face-hardened gears; these are thus the smallest, and
usually the most economical, for a wide range of appli-
cations. In certain cases (for example, where large centre-
distances are specified relative to the p o w e r to be transmit-
ted) through-hardened gears in steel or iron are economical.
Heat treatment of steel gears
Gear steels can be subdivided according to heat treatment
into the following classes:
(1) Soft gears: made from carbon or alloy steels, heat-
treated to a hardness of 100-360 HB before gear hobbing
or shaving. Gear cutting becomes difficult if the blanks
are harder than 280 HB, and a limit of 320 HB is usually
set for conventional HSS tools.
(2) Surface-hardened gears: made from direct-hardening
steels, with carbon content in the range 0.3-0.45% with
or without alloying elements (Cr, Ni, Mo). Ti~ese are
surface hardened after the gears are cut by heating the
surface and then quenching the gears. Surface heating is
by electric induction or flame, either tooth by tooth (con-
tour hardening) or on the whole gear circumference (spin
hardening). Heating is followed by quenching in oil or
aqueous emulsions and immediate tempering at 180-
200°C to avoid quenching cracks. The surface hardness
can lie in the range 550-650 HV. Since only the teeth are
heated and quenched, distortion of the gear is less than
in case-carburizing. Large-module, slow-speed gears
may be run in the 'as-heat-treated' condition, with attain-
able accuracy grade 8 or 9 (to BS 436: 1970). For best
performance, gears should be hard hobbed (skived) or
ground after heat treatment, to improve lead, pitch and
profile accuracy.
MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 13 No. 4 1992
 Technical report

7
6
E 5
-Root case thickness ~ ~ / ~ ~ A90h
131 4
¢.
-induction
flame ha r ord spin
e n ~ ~ ~ - ~
~ ~ ~ /~ T ~ o o~ "t h "\ by tooth
-
~E
~n
r" 3 ~ "~////~>,>" inductive or
~ ~x x ~ ~ ~/_//'~~ flame hardening
2 _ 30h
r~

'rl time at 930°C

t'.
~O~f~, / // Carburizing -~5h

~O~f~,
,,t
u_

I _ ~ i i ~ os ~~ O, ~ 1"
x ' ~ ' 7Ga nitriding
0.7
8
o 0.5
"T3 0.4 ,~x ~ --~50h - Approximately 2-5h
t-

0.3
r-

E 0.2
E ath n,tr,d,n
c
~ 8 h at 570°C

0.1 I I I I I I I I I I I
I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 910 20 30 40 50 6070 I00

Normal module, mn(mm)

Fig 5 Required case thickness

(3) Case-carburized gears: After the gear teeth are cut
(hobbed, shaped or planed, or formed by precision forg-
ing), the carbon content of plain and alloy steels is
increased by carburization at 850-950°C in a carbon-rich
environment to achieve a case carbon content of 0.9-
1.1% in low-alloy steels, and 0.6-0.9% carbon in higher-
alloy steels. After carburization, the gears are reheated
and quenched and subsequently tempered at 150°-210°C
to a surface hardness of 650-750 HV. The thickness of the
hard case is critical to performance, and a case thick-
ness at least as great as that shown in Fig. 5 must be
achieved. Distortion is substantial, due to both carburiza-
tion and quenching (transformation of the case from aus-
tenite to ferrite). In general, gears need to be finish
ground (or skive hobbed) after hardening. Where identi-
cal gears are produced in very large quantities under
carefully controlled conditions (e.g. automotive gears),
allowance can be made for heat-treatment distortion
when the gears are cut. Acceptable lead and profile
tolerances can then be achieved without finishing after
heat treatment.
(4) Nitrided gears: Gears are nitrided after gear cutting.
Nitriding of plain carbon, alloy and nitriding steels is
carried out in ammonia at 500-550°C (gas nitriding), or in
a cyanide salt bath at 520-580°C to form a nitrogen-rich
case with a surface hardness up to 850 HV. Due to the
lower process temperature and slow cooling (no quench-
ing) distortion is less than with other hardening pro-
cesses, and can be almost eliminated with good process
control. To achieve good fatigue strength, the gear tooth
core strength ~B should be as high as possible, typically
in the range 1000 < oB < K1400 N/mm 2. The case is
much thinner than in case-carburized gears (see Fig. 5)
so that overload capacity is less than in gears with heat
treatments (1)-(3) above.
Fatigue strength of steel gears
Typical strength and fatigue properties for 1% probability of
failure are given for a range of typical gear steels to BS and
DIN standards in Table 3. The fatigue endurance limits for
contact stress, (~,~,r,, and for bending, ~FE, are based on the
results of gear testing. Similarly, the UTS (ultimate tensile
strength) is the apparent breaking strength of gears, based
on the root bending stress or at rupture. The material proper-
ties will, however, vary very substantially by up to + 20% for
a particular gear, depending on the steel cleanliness, grain
size and details of heat treatment, surface hardness, case/
core residual stress gradient, and core strength (see below
for the material quality factor Mo).
It should be noted the given strength values for case-
carburized gears cannot be achieved in large-diameter,
large-module gears, with steels such as 20 MoCr 4, or 20
MoCr 5, because of the low hardenability of these lower-alloy
steels. The fatigue strength data in Table 3 presupposes full
case depth (after grinding) to Fig. 5.
M a t e r i a l cost for steel gears
Costs for different steels vary widely with the alloy content
(see Table 4). However, some steels are much easier to
machine than others, so that the relative machinability, R,
must also be considered (Table 4). Hobbing and shaping
costs are approximately proportional to dbm/R, or, for geo-
metrically similar gears, to d3/R (where d is the reference
diameter, b the facewidth and m the module). Grinding costs
are proportional to dbz x (grinding allowance), where the
grinding allowance is a function of d, b and B. For geometri-
cally similar gears, grinding costs can be taken to be pro-
portional to d 2s. For medium-sized gears (20-400 mm dia.),
grinding costs are typically 1.5-3 times the hobbing costs.
For accurate, medium-sized gears, produced in small
batches, material costs are usually a small part of total
manufacturing cost. In smaller, mass-produced gears (e.g.
automotive gears, electric motor gearheads), material,
including forging, may account for 60% or more of the total
cost, and cheap, low-alloy steels should be used wherever
possible.
P e r m i s s i b l e stress for steel gears
The most suitable gear material and heat treatment, accord-
ing to Table 3, is selected, depending on the size of the gear,

MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 13 No. 4 1992 235

Technical report

Table 3 Steel gear material properties

Typical specification Hardness Surface Bending

fatigue fatigue
Material type limit limit UTS Comments
(~Hlim oFE (N/mm 2)
BS BS DIN Surface Core (N/mm 2) (N/mm 2)

Cast iron and cast

steels
Cast iron BS 821 - DIN 1691 As 200 HB 330 100 380 Very cheap material with low
core fatigue strength. Good for
complex wheels with alloy rims.
Ductile iron BS 2789 - DIN 1692 220 HB 460 360 880 Suitable for small, high-quantity
lighty stressed gears.
SG iron BS 2789 - DIN 1692 180 300 He 480-620 240~440 590-1100 Suitable for complex shapes, as
Cast alloy steels BS 3100 220-320 HB 560-700 420~450 alternative to carbon and alloy
steels.
About 75% fatigue strength of
equivalent wrought steel.

Through-hardened BS 970 BS 970 DIN 17200

steels
Carbon steel En 8 080 M40 St 50 As 160-210 HE 450%50 440~420 560-710 Suitable for lightly stressed
En 9 070 M55 St 70 core drives and positional drives. At
210 11B ruling section t00 mm.
Alloy steel En 19 709 M40 34 CrMo4 220-320 HB 600-740 500~80 800-1580 Traditional gear materials,
En 19C 708 A42 42 CrMo4 difficult to machine at higher
En 24 817 M40 40 NiCrMo6 hardness, Careful heat treatment
En 26 826 M40 34 CrNiMo6 necessary to achieve good
fatigue strength.

Surface-hardened BS 970 BS 970 DIN 17200 Relatively cheap method of

steels (alloy steels. En 19 709 M40 34 CrMo4 560 200-280 HV 1160 680 1850 obtaining high surface durability.
flame or induction 42 CrMo4 610 HV Through Through Less distortion than carburizing
hardened) En 24 817 M40 40 NiCrMo6 root root large gears, but grinding
En 26 826 M40 34 CrNiMo6 hardening hardening generally required after heat
treatment. Large gears and large
modules require tooth by tooth
through root induction
hardening, with careful quality
control, very low distortion.
Danger of quench cracking.

Carburized steels BS 970 BS 970 DIN 17210 Highest possible load capacity.
(hardening and 15 MnCr5 650- 270-360 HV 1500 920 2300 Distortion significant, requires
tempered) 20 MnCr5 750 HV finish grinding on all but smallest
En 34 665 M17 15 CrNi6 gears. Case thickness as Fig. 5.
17 CrNiMo14 Compressive residual stresses
En 36 655 M13 10 NiCrMo14 reduced by grinding, in extreme
En 39 20 MoCr4 cases grinding burns can lead to
659 M15 14 NiCr18 tensile residual stress in the
case. Low-alloy steels are much
cheaper than En 34.36 without
great loss in fatigue strength.

Nitrided steels BS 970 BS 970 DIN 17211 Very low distortion achievable.
En 40 722 M24 14 CrMoV6.9 700- 270-360 H~ 1250 760 1250 particularly suitable for internal
En 40 905 M31 800 HV gears. Relatively thin case. less
suitable for shock loads. Nitrided
steels substantially more
expensive than carburized steels.

Note: The bending fatigue limit for idler gears and others subjected to reverse bending is 0.7 x C~E.

Table 4 Steel costs T h e p e r m i s s i b l e b e n d i n g a n d s u r f a c e s t r e s s , CFp a n d (~HP a r e

t h e n c a l c u l a t e d u s i n g a s i m p l i f i e d f o r m of t h e c a l c u l a t i o n
Cast iron Cost (at 1990 prices) R p r o c e d u r e in B S 436: 1986, w h e r e
Cast discs (p 150 x 150 % cost Relative
(i.e. finish cast blanks) £ per tonne relative to machinability (%)
Steel En 8 (En 8 = 100%)
Forging stock 100 x 150 (]FP = CrFE.YN. Yx.MQ ( p e r m i s s i b l e bending stress) (2a)

Cast iron. BS 821 600 125 and (~H, = (~.,r,.ZN. ' / M o ( p e r m i s s i b l e surface stress) (3a)
Ductile iron, BS 2789 900 100
Carbon steel, En 8 432 100 100
En 9 432 100 100 where the factors modifying bending strength are
Alloy steel. En 19 539 125 70
En 24 694 161 55-70 YN = life f a c t o r f o r s t r e n g t h , to t a k e a c c o u n t of t h e h i g h e r
Carburizing steel. En 36 773 179 40-50 f a t i g u e s t r e n g t h in t h e f i n i t e life r e g i o n at l e s s t h a n
En 39 1000 231 30~.0 3.10 e l o a d c y c l e s ( s e e Fig. 6),
16 MnCr5 519 120 55
20 MoCr4 526 122 55 Yx = s i z e f a c t o r , to t a k e a c c o u n t of t h e r e d u c t i o n in f a t i g u e
Nitriding steel. En 40 40-50 s t r e n g t h a s g e a r s i z e i n c r e a s e s ( s e e Fig. 8),
MQ = m a t e r i a l q u a l i t y f a c t o r , to t a k e a c c o u n t of t h e q u a l i t y
*'Finished' Blanks. not directly comparable with forging stock of t h e f o r g i n g s a n d h e a t t r e a t m e n t ( s e e Fig. 9),
and the factors modifying surface strength are
t h e w e i g h t a n d w h e t h e r t h e g e a r is to b e g r o u n d a f t e r h a r - ZN = life f a c t o r f o r p i t t i n g , to t a k e a c c o u n t of t h e h i g h e r
d e n i n g o r not. T h e m e a n b e n d i n g f a t i g u e s t r e n g t h , (~FE, a n d f a t i g u e s t r e n g t h at l e s s t h a n 5.107 o r 109 l o a d c y c l e s
t h e s u r f a c e f a t i g u e s t r e n g t h , C%ir., a r e t a k e n f r o m T a b l e 3. ( s e e Fig. 7).

236 MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 13 No. 4 1992

 Technical report

3.0
2.6
2.4 1.3
2.0 I///
1.8 1.2 /J J
1,6
1.1
#1.4
1.2 X 1.0

0.9
/

1.0

I I I IlIIll I I It lllll I l l llIll~ I I I tllll 0.7

03 10q 105 106 107

Number of tooth load cycles, N L No quality Average Best possible

control quality control quality control
Fig 6 Life factor for bending stress, Y~. (1) Through- and direct
Increasing quality of forgings and heat treatment
surface-hardened steels; (2) case-carburized steels; (3)
gas-nitrided steels; (4) bath-nitrided steels
Fig 9 Material quality factor, Mo, for surface- and through-
hardened steel gears. (1) All surface-hardened gears, (2)
all through-hardened gears

2.0 N o n - m e t a l l i c gears
1.8 Size for size, the load capacity of non-metallic (plastic) gears
is less than a tenth that of steel gears. The advantages and
1.6 disadvantages of these gears are:
• Low noise levels;
Z 1.4-
• Low modulus of elasticity so that lower accuracy is
required;
1.2- • Advantageous frictional behaviour so that dry running or
lubrication with water is possible;
• High hysteresis, low conductivity (1/100th that of steel) so
1.0-
overheating is a problem;
I I IIi • High coefficient of expansion, large backlash required;
lO 4 105 106 107 108 109 • Thermosplastic gears can be injection moulded to
achieve adequate accuracy at very low part piece cost;
Number of tooth load cycles, N L • Complex features such as splines or clutches can be
Fig 7 Life factor for contact stress, Z~. (1) Through-, induction- moulded into gears with little extra cost;
and case-hardened steels - some pitting permitted," (2) • Gears can be moulded as parts of links or other mechani-
through-hardened steels - no pitting permitted; (3) case- cal features
and induction-hardened steels - no pitting permitted; (4)
With these characteristics, injection-moulded plastic
gas-nitrided steels; (5) bath-nitrided steels
gears are attractive for small gears in domestic appliances
and in textile, food processing and business machines.
Larger machine-cut gears are used on low-power drives in
industrial applications where noise is a problem. The com-
monly used materials are:
Polyamide - PA (e.g. Nylon)
1.0 Polyacetal - POM (e.g. Deirin)
Synthetic Resin Bonded Fabric - SRBF (e.g. Tufnol)

Physical p r o p e r t i e s of n o n - m e t a l l i c gears
The physical properties of non-metallic materials are fairly
0.9
well documented, but the fatigue strength when used in
gears is not well researched, and the values given below
1
X
must be considered as very approximate only. The coeffi-
>-
cient of thermal expansion of non-metallic materials such as
0.8 the thermoplastics are much greater than for steel, and addi-
tional backlash must be allowed, especially when these are
2 mounted in steel gearcases.
The physical and mechanical properties are summarized
0.7 3 in Table 5. The surface and bending fatigue strength at 20°C
is given for the pairing plastic pinion mating with plastic
I I I wheel without lubrication.
10 20 30 40
mn P e r m i s s i b l e stress for n o n - m e t a l l i c g e a r s
The permissible stress for plastic gears depends not only on
Fig 8 Size factor bending stress, Y,~.(1) Through-hardened steel; the required fatigue life but also on the temperature and the
(2) surface-hardened stool, (3) cast iron lubrication conditions. Using the same form of expression as

MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 13 No. 4 1992 237

Technical report

Table 5 Properties of non-metallic gear materials

Characteristic property (at 20°C) Material

Nylon 12 Nylon 12 fibre Nylon 66 Nylon 66 fibre Delrin Tufnol
reinforced reinforced

Density, g/cm3 1.01 1.23 114 1.4 142 1.3

Max. operating temperature (°C) 100 100 100-120 100 120 100 110
Thermal conductivity W/(M*K) 0.29 0.29 Q23 0.23 0.31 0.23
Coefficient of expansion 10 6/°C 110 30 85 110 20
Dynamic E modulus 103 N/mm2 1.6 3.1 3,2 - 3.5 7.8
Surface fatigue strength (]H,~mN/mm2 (at 108 load cycles) 20 18 25 22 25 50
Bending fatigue strength O-FEN/mm2 (at 108 load cycles) 40 50 60 70 70 100
Slope of S Ncurve between 10s and 108
For surface, qH 7 7 7 7 7 8
For bending, qF 10 15 10 15 10 7
At 100°C dynamic E modulus 103 N/mm2 0.3 0.85 1.0 - 1.3

for steel gears, the p e r m i s s i b l e stress for b e n d i n g and sur- Acknowledgement

face stress are g i v e n by: M a t e r i a l for this r e p o r t has been e x t r a c t e d from a t h r e e -
v o l u m e T e a c h i n g P a c k o n G e a r T e c h n o l o g y (see A p p e n d i x )
(3"FP = O'FE" YNP" Yr. YLP (2b) p r o d u c e d and p u b l i s h e d by the British G e a r A s s o c i a t i o n , The
Editor is grateful for the c o n t r i b u t i o n of the BGA in the prep-
and aration of this article.

~Hp = CSH,,m. ZNP.Zt. ZLp
w h e r e YNP, ZNp are life factors,
Yt, Zt are t e m p e r a t u r e factors, to take a c c o u n t of r e d u c e d
s t r e n g t h at h i g h e r t e m p e r a t u r e s ,
YLP, ZLp are l u b r i c a n t factors, to take a c c o u n t of the g e a r
m a t i n g m a t e r i a l and lubrication,
for b e n d i n g and surface stress, r e s p e c t i v e l y .
With the indices q~ and qH from T a b l e 5, the life factors are
YN~ = r 1°8]~
LNoJ
Z.p = [1°81~
LNoJ
w h e r e the d e s i g n life is No > 10 s.
The t e m p e r a t u r e factors for Nylon and Delrin at a w o r k i n g
t e m p e r a t u r e tw (°C) are v e r y a p p r o x i m a t e l y
Y, = 1 - yF(tw -- 20°C)
w h e r e YF = 8 "10-3 and
Zt = 1 - yH(tw - 20°C)
w h e r e YH = 4-10-3. The l u b r i c a n t factors to take a c c o u n t of
the better p e r f o r m a n c e of n o n - m e t a l l i c g e a r s w h e n g r e a s e
and oil l u b r i c a t e d a r e
YLP = 2 for oil and g r e a s e l u b r i c a t i o n
ZLp = 1.5 for g r e a s e l u b r i c a t i o n
ZLp = 1.75 for oil l u b r i c a t i o n
(3b) Appendix. The Teaching pack on Gear Technology
P r e p a r a t i o n and p u b l i c a t i o n of the T e a c h i n g Pack has been
s p o n s o r e d f i n a n c i a l l y by the British G e a r A s s o c i a t i o n (BGA),
to f u r t h e r a w i d e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g of g e a r i n g , and to help
c o m p e n s a t e for a d e a r t h of up-to-date E n g l i s h - l a n g u a g e text-
b o o k s on the subject of g e a r i n g design. Six m o d u l e s c o m -
p r i s e a total of m o r e than 350 p a g e s of text/notes, o v e r 200
d i a g r a m s s u i t a b l e for r e p r o d u c t i o n as o v e r h e a d p r o j e c t i o n
slides, thirty 3 5 - m m slides, a PC disk and g u i d a n c e on teach-
ing the subject. T h e y c o v e r , r e s p e c t i v e l y : Drive Systems;
G e a r S y s t e m Design; G e a r G e o m e t r y ; Design and Stress
A n a l y s i s of Spur and Helical Gears; G e a r b o x Design; M a n u -
facture and M e t r o l o g y of Spur and Helical Gears.
T h r e e UK g e a r i n g d e s i g n experts, with e x p e r i e n c e both of
industrial c o n s u l t a n c y and teaching, h a v e each c o m p i l e d t w o
of the m o d u l e s that m a k e up the T e a c h i n g Pack. T h e y are
Dieter Hoffman of the Design Unit at the U n i v e r s i t y of New-
castle, H e l l m u t h K o h l e r of Sheffield U n i v e r s i t y and Bob
Munro, a c o n s u l t a n t at H u d d e r s f i e l d Polytechnic, w h o pro-
p o s e d the p r e p a r a t i o n of such an e d u c a t i o n a l aid s o m e y e a r s
ago. All t h r e e e s t a b l i s h m e n t s a r e c l o s e l y i n v o l v e d with BGA
activities as a s s o c i a t e m e m b e r s .
The pack is a v a i l a b l e free of c h a r g e to a p p r o p r i a t e higher-
e d u c a t i o n e s t a b l i s h m e n t s in the UK and m a y be f r e e l y used
and c o p i e d for e d u c a t i o n a l p u r p o s e s . V e r s i o n s of t h e s e
t e a c h i n g m a t e r i a l s for use by c o m m e r c i a l o r g a n i z a t i o n s will
be s e p a r a t e l y a v a i l a b l e at r e a s o n a b l e cost from the BGA in
due course.
Further details can be o b t a i n e d from Jim Hewitt, Director,
British G e a r A s s o c i a t i o n , St J a m e s ' s House, F r e d e r i c k Road,
E d g b a s t o n , B i r m i n g h a m B15 1JJ UK. Tel: + 44 (0)21 456 3445,
Fax: + 4 4 (0)21 456 3161.

238 MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 13 No. 4 1992