The load carrying capacity of highly loaded gears can be increased by thermochemical surface treatments such as nitriding or case hardening. In contrast to case hardening, the nitriding treatment is carried out at lower process temperatures and therefore creates lower distortion. As a result, grinding after nitriding is usually not necessary. Nitrided gears are ordinarily characterized by a thin, high-hardness, a few micrometers thick compound layer of iron and alloy element nitrides directly on the surface and a subsequent diffusion layer reaching more deeply into the material. Nitriding, therefore, provides an alternative to case hardening for distortion-sensitive components and offers potential for cost savings in the production of highly loaded gears. This publication will focus on the influence of nitriding on the load carrying capacity of highly loaded gears. In addition, this paper summarizes the current state of knowledge of nitrided gears and gives an insight into current research in the field of nitrided gears. In particular, the influence of the compound layer on the tooth root bending strength and the flank load carrying capacity achieved within the research project FVA 386 II is discussed.

The load carrying capacity of gears can be significantly increased by nitriding. However, the required nitriding hardening depth depends on the stress level and the gear size. In order to achive a high fatigue resistance and durability of nitrided gears an adequate nitriding hardening depth is necessary. In industrial practice, a nitriding hardening depth (NHD) of about 0.6 mm is currently regarded as the upper limit that can be reached within a reasonable time and cost. This also limits of the load carrying capacity of nitrided gears, in particular with increasing gear sizes. Therefore, case hardening is the main treatment used with increasing gear sizes, although nitriding provides some advantages over case hardening. However, with an increased nitriding hardening depth, a significant increase in the load carrying capacity of nitrided gears for medium and larger gear sizes could be expected, which will be discussed in this publication. In order to evaluate the expected potential of the load carrying capacity of nitrided gears with an increased nitriding hardening depth of NHD ≈ 0.8 to 1.0 mm (deep nitriding heat treatment) made out of the materials 31CrMoV9 (1.8519), 30CrNiMo8 (1.6580) and 32CDV13 (alloy for aerospace applications according to AIR 9160), experimental investigations were carried out, which will be discussed in this publication. Both, the tooth root bending strength and the flank load carrying capacity were investigated.

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