REM ist der Technologieführer im Bereich der Oberflächenbearbeitung von Metallteilen. Als solcher verfügen wir über zahlreiche Fachartikel und Ressourcen zu den Themen Beschichtungs- und Oberflächentechnik sowie Feinbearbeitungslösungen. Die vollständigen Ausführungen dieser Ressourcen werden auf Anfrage in englischer Sprache zur Verfügung gestellt.

By: Dr. Tom Beyersdorff, Lane Winkelmann and Dr. Gary Sroka

Abstract:

The benefits gained by Superfinishing rear-axle gearsets using traditional chemically accelerated vibratory finishing is well documented. Contact fatigue life is dramatically increased while friction, wear and operating temperature are significantly decreased. This is facilitated by reducing the surface roughness of the mated gear teeth, thereby allowing full hydrodynamic lubrication to occur during operation. One large impediment to full commercial implementation of this process has been the fact that it is a lengthy batch process and not readily automatable to meet the demands of the automotive industry’s JIT production environment.

The newly developed Rapid ISF^® process addresses these drawbacks while still providing all the benefits. This process couples drag finishing equipment, traditional non-abrasive tumbling media and chemical accelerants into an automatable, high speed gear finishing system. This system has the ability to take either lap matted or ground automotive axle gearsets and convert them into low friction superfinished gearsets of Ra less than 0.2 µm within a 5- 8 minute cycle.

A detailed description of the new system and its operational parameters are presented as well as performance data of the Superfinished gearsets. The before and after processing data includes gear geometry checks, contact pattern comparisons and surface roughness measurements.