Additive manufacturing process chains for gear wheels

 

Starting Situation

Additive production chains offer flexibility in geometric component design, short set-up times even for small batch sizes and low tooling costs. In the past seven years, the productivity of the process has been increased by a factor of 14. Due to the growing number of qualified materials for the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) process, this process is used in a variety of industries. Previous growth markets for this technology include aerospace technology, medical technology, turbomachinery and toolmaking.

Research Objective

In the FVA research project 759 I "3D Printing Study", the processability of the material 16MnCr5 was demonstrated and test pinions were manufactured by means of Laser Powder Bed Fusion and investigated in stitch tests with regard to the tooth root and pitting load-bearing capacity. In particular, potentials for the optimization of the tooth root bearing capacity and economic efficiency of L-PBF gears were revealed, which could be achieved by an in-depth parameter study. For this reason, the correlation between powder properties, process parameters and the resulting component properties is the main research objective of the project. By optimizing the L-PBF process parameters as well as the tooth root geometry and roughness, the potential for increasing the load carrying capacity of L-PBF-manufactured gears is researched and thus the industrial applicability of additive gear manufacturing is improved.