Roughness model for tooth surfaces of spiral bevel gears under grinding

•A mathematical model of grinding roughness for spiral bevel gears is proposed.•With the proposed model, roughness can be calculated as a distribution over the gear surface.•Based on an example, several measures to optimize the grinding parameters are discussed.

A mathematical model of grinding roughness for spiral bevel gears is proposed. The model considers two sources that contribute to the roughness, (i) material removal, and (ii) the discretized generating movement between the grinding wheel and the workpiece. For source (i), the classical roughness model for general orthogonal grinding is adopted, for which the grinding process of spiral bevel gears is reviewed in a new framework to extract necessary parameters. With the proposed model, roughness can be calculated as a distribution over the gear surface. An example is presented to show the process, based on which several measures to optimize the grinding parameters are discussed.