Influence of real surface topography on the contact area ratio in differently manufactured spur gears

Surface topography measurements from spur gears produced using four different manufacturing methods were used as input to a contact analysis programme. All test gears were case-hardened, two gears were machined in the hardened state using honing and grinding respectively, and two gears were machined in the non-hardened state using hobbing and hobbing followed by green-shaving respectively. The results show that the surface topography caused by the manufacturing methods has a large influence on the real contact area in the early life of the gear. The green-shaved gear surfaces and the honed gear surfaces have the highest contact area ratio after manufacturing (as-manufactured), which could be advantageous for future gear life with respect to e.g. the running-in process.

► Differently produced gears have been compared by measurements and contact simulations.
► The real contact area ratio was successfully used for describing the gear contacts.
► The real contact area ratio can be used as an advanced roughness parameter.
► Honing and green-shaving are preferable to grinding in terms of contact area ratio.