Precautions for Material Selection of Gear Reducer Gears

Gear transmission transmits motion and power between any two shafts in space through the meshing of teeth, and can change the form and speed of motion. Gear transmission has a wide range of applications, constant transmission ratio, high efficiency, and long service life. In the design and manufacturing process of mechanical parts, it is not only necessary to consider that the performance of the material can adapt to the working conditions of the part, making the part durable, but also requires that the material have good processing performance and economy, in order to improve the productivity of the part, reduce costs, and reduce consumption. If the gear material is improperly selected, premature damage or even failure of the parts can occur. Therefore, we should be cautious in selecting gear materials.

First of all, it is necessary to meet the mechanical properties of materials: the mechanical properties of materials include strength, hardness, plasticity, and toughness, reflecting the characteristics that materials exhibit during use. During gear meshing, there is contact stress at the contact point of the tooth surface, and there is a large bending stress at the root of the tooth, which may cause strength failure of the tooth surface or tooth body. There is relative sliding at each point on the tooth surface, which can cause wear. The main failure modes of gears include tooth surface pitting, tooth surface gluing, tooth surface plastic deformation, and tooth breakage. Therefore, the gear material is required to have high bending fatigue strength and contact fatigue strength, sufficient hardness and wear resistance on the tooth surface, and certain strength and toughness on the core.

Secondly, it is necessary to meet the technological performance of the material: the technological performance of the material refers to the ability of the material itself to adapt to various processing requirements. The manufacturing of gears requires several processes, such as forging, cutting, and heat treatment. Therefore, attention should be paid to the technological properties of materials when selecting materials.

Economic requirements for the third material: The so-called economy refers to achieving greater economic benefits with less consumption. On the premise of meeting the service performance, attention should also be paid to minimizing the total cost of parts when selecting gear materials.

To sum up, when selecting gear materials, we should proceed from reality and comprehensively consider issues such as mechanical performance, technological performance, and economy. Only reasonable material selection can ensure gear quality, reduce product costs, and improve market competitiveness.