Demands for higher performance have caused a need for improved component characteristics, e.g. through surface strengthening of gears and increased cleanliness of gear steels. Unfortunately, a resultant drawback is that cracks in such high-strength gears are more often initiated in the material matrix at nonmetallic inclusions and not at the surface. In standardized calculation methods, the degree of cleanliness of steels is not yet directly correlated to the tooth root load-carrying capacity. This paper considers the effects of nonmetallic inclusions in the steel matrix on the tooth root strength based on the theoretical approach of Murakami.

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This paper contains data of the research project FVA 293 III by Schurer et al. and investigates the tooth root bending strength and the fatigue fracture characteristics of case-carburized and shot-peened gears of different sizes. The investigated carburized and shot-peened gears are made out of high-purity steel batches of the materials 20MnCr5 and 18CrNiMo7-6. Three different gear sizes with the normal modules mn = 1.5, 5, and 10 mm are examined in pulsator test rigs. Additionally, gear running tests in the FZG back-to-back gear test rigs for the gear size mn = 1.5 are performed.

Demands on modern gearboxes are constantly increasing, for example to comply with lightweight design goals or new CO2 thresholds. Normally, to increase performance requires making gearboxes and powertrains more robust. However, this increases the weight of a standard gearbox. The two trends therefore seem contradictory. To satisfy both of these goals, gears in gearboxes can be shot-peened to introduce high compressive residual stresses and improve their bending fatigue strength. To determine a gear’s tooth root bending fatigue strength, experiments are conducted up to a defined number of load cycles in the high cycle fatigue range. However, investigations of shot-peened gears have revealed tooth root fracture damage initiated at non-metallic inclusions in and above the very high cycle fatigue range. This means that a further reduction in bending load carrying capacity has to be expected at higher load cycles, something which is not covered under current standard testing conditions. The question is whether there is a significant decrease in the bending load carrying capacity and, also, if pulsating tests conducted at higher load cycles—or even tests on the FZG back-to-back test rig—are necessary to determine a proper endurance fatigue limit for shot-peened gears. This paper examines these questions.

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.