Gears in any type of machine, system or application need to be designed to stand up to wear and tear. During the manufacturing of these critical components in any system, the right heat treatment of gears can accomplish this in a highly cost-effective way.
For both heavy duty as well as light duty gears, protecting the surface where gear cogs and components come in contact with each other is essential. When the gears are used in load bearing types of applications, such as power transmission systems, the use of durable gears is a practical matter to prevent system failures and downtime on equipment and machinery.
There are different options and steps that can be used in the heat treatment of gears. Annealing is often a first process that provides a more machinable part. Normalizing can then be used to provide greater stability to the part for the future use of heat treatment and is also essential for stress relief in the gear.
Hardening Options
With the gear correctly prepared, the next step is in the actual heat treatment of gears. It is possible to harden just the surface of the gear, usually the cogs, through induction heat treatment or to harden the entire surface of the gear through processes such as carburizing, carbonitriding or one of several other methods.
Case hardening is ideal for gears when it is important to develop a wear-resistant type of surface layer across the entire gear. This is often used in applications where the environment is likely to produce pitting or when tooth breaking is a significant concern for the gear.
Both case hardening, as well as hardening of specific areas of the gear through heat treatment, can be automated and very cost effective. It can also be completed to the exacting specifications required by the OEM, making it a practical choice for both small and large volume orders.
